“It is a contract between us and the NNPC. The issue should not be misunderstood for something else.
“I don’t want to bring ethnicity into this matter. I don’t want people to see us in bad light.
Tag: gani adams
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Odu’a help! They want to kill Gani
Help Odu’a, help! They want to kill Gani Adams, help!
That is the frantic call from Ganiyu Adams, leader of a faction of the Odu’a People’s Congress (OPC), whose pre-election sweetheart deal with President Goodluck Jonathan and his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led to the rude and crude invasion of Lagos streets by charm-waving and weapon-threatening OPC cadre, joined by other Jonathan fair-weather friends, to press the president’s right to a compulsory second term.
Gani says after that atavistic show in Lagos on a Monday morning, that show of equal-opportunity anarchy, he has known no peace. He whines that his paradise is lost. He whines even more that that paradise may never be regained. Pity!
Hardball, with all his soul, empathises with the embattled Gani. Indeed, the word is empathy and not sympathy — empathy because whoever sees coming death and not shiver? Who?
But what “death” is Gani talking about? If he is talking of physical death, that would amount to over-dramatisation of this present travails. Why would anyone want to kill the living dead?
Long live Gani, the private citizen and humble carpenter who despite his lowly nativity rose to some national prominence, in self-projected defence of his Yoruba nationality, in the ceaseless crisis of Nigerian nationhood. Gani is a young man. Other things being equal, he will live his life to old age.
But Gani as a champion of Yoruba causes, no matter how misguided and how unconventional? That one would appear dead! Now, if that Gani is existentially dead, and his OPC, at best of times a rogue underclass group, that has now proved itself a racketeer for filthy lucre, even against the very same perceived Yoruba interest both claimed to be vanguard, is that not existential death?
So, if Citizen Gani gripes about some threatened physical liquidation, the Police and other security agencies should urgently attend to his cry. But he labours in vain if he feels that, by such an alarm, he can claw his way back to relevance.
MKO, the irreplaceable Moshood Kashimawo Abiola, the late Nigerian elected president that was never inaugurated said it all — and his bank was the unceasing Yoruba well of traditional wise-cracks. You declared yourself on a money-making trip, but on the way, you fortuitously ran into honour. Be wise: about your trip — even if you made money, would you not use it to acquire honour?
This was one of MKO’s rich repertoire during his June 12 annulment odyssey. It eventually claimed his life, but made him a martyr of Nigerian democracy, the grim honour no money — and he had loads of that — can buy!
Ironically, it was during this titanic struggle for national voter sovereignty, turned Yoruba rights because most others chickened out, that Gani emerged with Pa Frederick Fasehun, who claimed to have founded OPC. In the pre-election manoeuvres however, both appeared to have self-destruct: the one young and callow; the other old and not-so-wise; but both certainly throwing their lot with money and hardly with honour! That seems to explain the so-called Jonathan sweetheart pipeline security contract, for which they risked everything!
Now that Gani Adams and his OPC have chosen money over honour, they should live happily ever after with their choice — as the living dead!
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OPC Council ask Adams to resign
The National Coordinating Council of the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC), has asked the National Coordinator of the congress, Otunba Gani Adams, to immediately resign his appointment in order to forestall another “internal war” within the organisation.
Speaking with newsmen in Ibadan on Monday, the spokesman of the council, Comrade Adesina Akinpelu, also asked Adams to make open, the OPC’s statements of bank accounts since March 1, 1999 when he was made the National President of the Yoruba socio-cultural group.
Akinpelu called on Yoruba monarchs and governors of the Yoruba speaking states to prevail on Adams not to cause another crisis within the OPC, saying several lives were lost during two of such internal crises fuelled by the OPC’s National Coordinator in Lagos and Ibadan in the past.
His words: “It is on record that lives of many indigenes of Oyo state and Lagosians were lost in the battles between Otunba Gani Adams and Dr. Fasheun in Lagos and between him (Adams) and Alaka in Ibadan in the past. We will not allow him to shed any blood in Ibadan or Lagos again. Any attempt by him to cause another internal war within the OPC, the battle will be taken to Arigidi-Akoko, his hometown.
“We now know the antics of Gani Adams, and we will never allow him to have his way to start another internal war within the OPC. Just as OPC in Ekiti state has been liberated from the shackles of Gani Adams, other state chapters will be liberated. Oyo OPC has equally been liberated. No amount of threat and intimidation from Gani Adams and his cohorts will stop me and other members of the council opposed to his tyrannical rule from upholding the truth we stand for. ”
The council accused Adams of using OPC to enrich himself and his family members at the expense of members of the organisation, saying for example, the OPC boss has registered many companies under his name using funds generated from the organization.
According to him, Olokun Foundation, which has been approved by UNESCO, is one of such avenues that Adams is using to siphon funds meant for the OPC.
“We have discovered that Gani Adams is only after his own interests and not the interests of OPC members. He has over the years used the organization to better the lots of his own family. Gani Adams never funded any of the OPC programmes or cultural festivals, but the contributions of all members are usually used to host such programmes, and yet he collects money from individuals, groups, corporate bodies and state governments without rendering any account to members of the group,” he lamented.
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…President met with Obanikoro, Gani Adams, Agbaje, so what? — Presidency
The Presidency yesterday admitted that President Goodluck Jonathan met in Lagos with Messers Musiliu Obanikoro,Jimmy Agbaje and Gani Adams, but denied that the purpose was to rig today’s elections in Lagos State as alleged by the APC.
Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, said “nothing unusual happened” during the meeting or during his principal’s visit to Lagos ,while the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) dismissed the APC allegations as false.
Abati,reacting in a statement to the APC allegations said: “ President Jonathan visited Lagos. He arrived on Thursday and left on Friday. People visited him. So what? Anytime the President is in Lagos or any part of the country, a lot of people come to pay homage to him. Nothing unusual happened during his last visit to Lagos.
“Senator Musiliu Obanikoro’s visit to the President in Lagos is not something that anybody should use to play politics. Koro is a Minister of the Federal Republic. He came to see his boss.”
He also said that he did not see how the visit of the governorship candidate of the PDP in Lagos state, Mr. Jimi Agbaje, to the President, who is the leader party, should become an issue.
“Yes, Gani Adams also visited, but so did a lot of other people.” he added
Abati said the APC spokesman was rude and off course to suggest that the President was in Lagos to perfect any plan to rig.
His words: “President Jonathan visited Lagos. He arrived on Thursday and left on Friday. People visited him. So what? Anytime the President is in Lagos or any part of the country, a lot of people come to pay homage to him. Nothing unusual happened during his last visit to Lagos.”
Abati also said that the President did not hold meetings with INEC officials, the police, or polling officials or with anybody who is involved in organizing elections.
“So to say that the President went to Lagos to supervise the rigging of today’s election is most uncharitable and cruel,” he said.
He added: “After the presidential election, the President immediately congratulated Gen. Buhari and the whole world has commended him for saving Nigeria. President Jonathan’s sportsmanship, statesmanship and leadership saved this country at that critical moment.
“He has demonstrated his commitment to free and fair elections, the rule of law and due process. He has shown that he is a man of character, honour and integrity. Nigerians generally are proud of him. He has left a worthy legacy and shown a great example. That, obviously, is the narrative that Lai Mohammed and his masters want to change, so they are now cooking up meaningless tales.
“Lai Mohammed should look for another target and leave the President alone. His fatuous tale does not make any sense. I repeat: we will like to advise that the APC should just leave the President alone. President Jonathan was a candidate in the presidential election; he did not rig the election. Why would he want to rig tomorrow’s (today’s) elections?”
In a separate statement in Abuja,the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP,Chief Olisa Metuh, called the APC allegations unwarranted and unnecessary as they are capable of raising tension.
He said: “The APC must desist from its propaganda, lies and false alarms, especially bearing in mind that it did not win the presidential election on account of such.
“Nigerians are no longer in the mood for such politics as they have since moved ahead in celebration of the deepening of our democracy by the PDP-led administration.
“The PDP successfully nurtured democracy in the last 16 years with attendant benefits to the people. Unfortunately, concerns are already heightening that the APC may not sustain this legacy given its disreputable disposition to national issues and ceaseless resort to propaganda and deceit.
“We are aware that the APC leader and President-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, has gone to about 12 states meeting and campaigning for his party’s candidates and wonder why the APC should fret about President Goodluck Jonathan’s meeting with our candidates in Lagos.
“President Jonathan has with the 2015 general elections proven beyond all doubts that he is a true democrat committed to free, fair and credible elections, a fact for which he has continued to receive accolades from well-meaning Nigerians and the international community.
“Finally, we call on Lagosians to disregard this latest false alert and come out en masse today to exercise their constitutionally guaranteed right. In the same vein, we charge INEC and security forces to ensure that the elections are free, fair and credible not only in Lagos, but also in other states of the federation”.
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Knocks for Gani Adams
The National Coordinating Council of the Oodua People’s Congress(OPC) has asked the National Coordinator of the congress, Otunba Gani Adams, to explain what happened to the N1.6 billion he collected from President Goodluck Jonathan and the six million votes he promised the President.
In a statement by the spokesman of the council, Comrade Adesina Akinpelu, the OPC Council said one of the factors that contributed to President Jonathan’s defeat in Southwest was the President’s romance with characters, such as Gani Adams.
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Gani Adams’ barbarity in Lagos
‘Fanatics are like debris following the course of the wind; they are swept around like sand, and convinced to believe in what they do not understand’—–Caleb Colton
What could be the mindset of Gani Adams, factional leader of Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) when he chose to lead a violent protest, which according to him, was meant to call for the removal of Prof. Attahiru Jega, chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) from his post on March 24? Besides, the disgruntled militia’s main grouse is how to guarantee the inept President Goodluck Jonathan’s re-election into power.
Adams led the chaotic protest march from the old tollgate through Ikorodu road to the National Stadium in Surulere area venue of the pro-Jonathan rally. The Oodua protesters reportedly brandished weapons such as cutlasses, guns, knives and others while occupying one side of the highway, harassing road users, including motorists and pedestrians. These apparently sponsored fake democratic campaigners went about destroying campaign posters and billboards of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) in their venal best. They, for effect, purportedly came from different zones in Lagos and neighbouring states including Ondo and Oyo. This column gleaned from reliable sources that they were also joined by some individuals in black vest, believed to be FERMA/SURE-P personnel that were, sometime ago, given military training at a yard located around the old toll gate area.
Adams’ protest is misguided because it is not the people of Nigeria that appointed Jega but President Jonathan with the approval of the Senate. And if he is not knowledgeable enough to know this, he ought to seek legal counsel of many brilliant Yoruba lawyers around him that would have advised him to take his gun, cutlasses and amulet-wielding protesters to Aso-Rock Villa, Abuja and the National Assembly to protest the removal of Jega. The major impediment here is that it is obvious that this faction of OPC could not establish any prima facie case against Jega, except that his appointor wants a desperate second term, and gave them billions of naira pipeline protection contract as Greek gift.
And again, the fact that Jega’s insistence on using the card reader for the election is unfavourable to the re-election ambition of their mutual benefactor – Jonathan. While it is good that the contract will avail jobs for ‘15,000 Yoruba youths,’ it is equally disgusting to note that Adams is equating this figure to millions of others who are well educated but could not get jobs because of the lack of innate capacity of and inept approach of Jonathan to governance in the country, thereby necessitating the clamour for CHANGE by most young and old Nigerians.
What is the goal of OPC’s terrorisation of Lagosians going about their daily activities in a lawful way through its members brandishing guns, cutlasses and amulets on major roads? Is the leadership of the organisation unaware of the fact that the only people who are validly allowed to use violence in our society are the police, the army, and, very occasionally, few licensed individuals, under provocation and in self-defence? During the last imprudent violent protest of OPC, the group stepped outside the legal charter and ought to have lost all protection for themselves from the compromised police that watched helplessly as they unleashed terror on inhabitants of the state.
Questions for Adams’ OPC: What unknown existing real problem is the group trying to divulge? If it is Professor Attahiru Jega’s removal, that is no problem for the man has not committed any crime or abused his position as at the last time this column checked. Even if the group does not like the INEC man, for induced partisan reasons, what alternative is being pushed forward other than creation of more problems that would ensure the elections did not hold, being the failed reference term promised Jonathan which dubiously facilitated the curious N6billion pipeline contract… and would that solve any problem or further throw the country into more avoidable constitutional problems? In Adams’ moment of personal reflection, does it not occur to him that the said contract is clear usurpation of police and other security agencies’ duties? Must the OPC be involved in intentional law-breaking antics by putting self in arrestable situations in order to make a political statement just because the presidency is behind their injurious procession?
But for the sake of working as a group to collectively fleece the state, it is settled that Adams and his ferocious men cannot in their individual capacity publicly commit such worst barbaric acts of persecuting and harassing fellow countrymen/women that ordinarily should have revolted against their whole being. Adams should realise that the waste bin of history in Yoruba land is replete with men that, at one time or the other, and for pecuniary reasons, jettisoned the larger interest of Yoruba. Their enjoyment later proved to be evanescent while the pains and anguish associated with such betrayals against the larger Yoruba interest is forever.
It is an irony that a Jonathan administration that postponed the February elections simply because of violence in some parts of the country is sponsoring violence through OPC and the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) in the west and eastern parts of the country, despite its still being unable to abate the earlier northeast insurgency against the state.
The most reasonable thing under the Nigerian situation is to assume that violent tactics, as being deployed by the PDP and the Jonathan presidency, through unthinking militias and other state’s instrument of coercion is wrong and unacceptable. The deployment of militias and the security agencies to fight sitting president’s electoral battle can only breed chaos in a polity where majority of the populace have already made up their minds not to vote in a particular way not favourable to the incumbent. The OPC protest that paralysed parts of Lagos that Monday sent wrong signals to the electorate on how far the OPC would go on the day of election to protect the electorally infamous interest of President Jonathan. The truth is that millions of Adams and his OPC and even MASSOB’s induced savagery, under the guise of expression of ‘constitutional rights,’ cannot stop the electorate of this country from expressing their free will through the ballot come March 28 and April 11. The induced minority, under the prevailing circumstances, would have their say; but the law-abiding rampaging majority that are tired of Jonathan’s ineptitude in the management of the affairs of this country would have their way. Let us all keep our fingers crossed till the election days – being the days of actual decision for CHANGE.
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Why we boycotted anti-Jega rally – Ekiti OPC
Members of the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) in Ekiti State have dissociated themselves from the protest staged in Lagos on Saturday against the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega.
The Lagos rally was spearheaded by the OPC National Coordinator Gani Adams who has endorsed the candidacy of President Goodluck Jonathan for the March 28 presidential poll.
The Ekiti OPC members also revealed that they boycotted the Lagos rally in solidarity with their leader, Niyi Adedipe also known as Apase, who is on remand in Ado-Ekiti prisons.
Adedipe was accused of complicity in the killing of former state Chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Omolafe Aderiye on September 25 last year.
Speaking on the development in Ado-Ekiti on Wednesday, the Ekiti OPC Deputy Coordinator, Olowo Oladele, stressed that they are standing by their leader, Adedipe, whom he said Adams had forsaken since he (Adedipe) was remanded.
Oladele who addressed journalists alongside the OPC State Secretary, Idowu Julius and Adedipe’s Personal Assistant, Kamarudeen Lateef, said members are angry with Adams for attempting to coerce them into his personal agenda without supporting Adedipe in his trying times.
Oladele said Ekiti OPC members cannot be lured with a “bogus and questionable” pipeline security contract to attend a jamboree in Lagos when their state leader is languishing in detention.
He disclosed that they received the notice to attend the Lagos rally on Thursday with Adams directing that each OPC state chapter should send 50 delegates adding that member of the group was promised N50, 000 as largesse from the pipeline security contract.
Oladele said members of the group in Ekiti conferred with their leader in the prisons where they resolved to boycott the rally where a protest march was held against INEC chair Jega
He said: “Our members are not interested in any pipeline contract or any filthy lucre for that matter.
“What we are interested in is how our leader, Apase, will be released from the prisons because we strongly believe that he did not commit the offence for which he is being remanded.
“We all resolved not to go to Lagos when our leader is inside prison because neither Jonathan nor Adams has offered him any support and they did not bother about his plight.
“In fact, we all entered into an oath that nobody should attend the Gani Adams rally in Lagos even if they offer us N1 million each because the freedom of Apase who is an innocent man is very important to us.”
Julius said all the 16 local government chapters of the OPC are solidly behind Adedipe maintaining that Adams ought to have supported him (Adedipe) in his travails rather than summoning them to Lagos.
“We cannot be going for a jamboree in Lagos and be dancing naked in the marketplace when our leader is detained in the prisons and that is why we resolved not to go to Lagos and the compliance was full and total.
Lateef said: “All the 16 local government coordinators in solidarity with Apase decided to stay away from the anti-Jega rally.
“We dissociated ourselves from the anti-Jega rally because we don’t want to lose focus of why OPC was established which was to protect the interests of the Yoruba anywhere in the world.
“OPC is for Yoruba interests and not for somebody’s personal interests and that is our stand and we have no apology for that”.
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ACF blasts Gani Adams over call for Jega’s sack
A northern socio-cultural group Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) yesterday blasted the Coordinator of the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC), Chief Gani Adams, over his call for the sack of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega.
The OPC leader, according to the ACF, had called for the sack of the INEC boss on the basis of the distribution of the Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), introduction of card readers and the creation of 30,000 polling units, which he claimed favoured the North.
The ACF, through its National Publicity Secretary, Muhammadu Ibrahim, in a statement in Kaduna yesterday noted that the body would not have reacted to the OPC leader for obvious reasons.
The group, however, said Adams’ utterance was laughable and pedestrian, noting that the OPC leader lacked the understanding of the constitution and the electoral law.
According to the forum, it portrayed him (Adams) as ignorant of the digital age where transparency was the hallmark of free, fair and credible elections.
It said the utterances of the OPC leader was not only parochial, but portrayed him as seeking political relevance.
The ACF said: “It is not the tradition of the Arewa Consultative Forum to respond to such unguarded and misinformed statement by leaders of socio-cultural groups or any individual for that matter on national issues.
“However, we find it necessary to respond to Chief Adams’ false claim that the creation of additional 30,000 polling units was fraudulently done by INEC to favour the North.
“In fact, based on scientific and statistical analysis of the INEC data, the North was shortchanged. Nigeria with a total registered voter figure of 70,383,427 in 2011 and when divided by the proposed INEC 150,000 polling units across the country, every polling units in any state should have 469 voters per unit to make it easier for voters to cast their votes.”
The statement noted that that was as a result of the hue and cry over the additional units from southern leaders that forced INEC’s creation of the 30,000 units.
The forum said the creation of the units would not change the number of registered voters. It urged leaders at all levels to guard their utterances, especially on issues they were not properly informed.
“Nigeria belongs to all of us and we must work towards our common interest. We should strongly emphasise what binds us together and not what divides us,” the ACF added.
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Gani Adams warns Fed Govt against soldiers’ deployment
The leader of O’odua Peoples Congress (OPC), Chief Gani Adams, has warned the Federal Government against the militarisation of the general elections.
Adams, however, said soldiers could only be deployed to crisis prone states.
He noted that in such areas, the military should not take over the duties of the Nigeria Police during the March and April elections.
Adams spoke to airport reporters yesterday at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, on his way to Atlanta, Georgia, United States to receive a cultural award. He urged the government to ensure civility throughout the period of the elections, adding that the deployment of soldiers in the elections must be minimised.
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Confab delegates urge FG to negotiate with Boko Haram
Some members of the National Conference have called on the federal government to enter into negotiation with the insurgent Boko Haram group for the release of the abducted 200 girls from Chibok, Borno State.
The delegates opined that the pains of the mothers and Nigerians at large should not be overlooked while the negotiation would also provide the opportunity for government to have better understanding of the group’s grievances.
According to Gani Adams, National Coordinator of the Odua Peoples Congress (OPC) negotiating with the group would afford the government the opportunity to have an insight into the workings of the insurgent group and help in disarming it.
According to him, “Government should negotiate with Boko Haram because the lives of these girls is more important than anything at this point in time. Politics should not be brought into it and as we can see, the world powers are coming into it and giving their assistance.
“If we move fast, negotiate and succeed at it, there may be no need for the assistance of these foreign powers in the area of security anymore, remember we are a sovereign state and we should be seen managing our affairs as it best suit us.
“I think by negotiating with Boko Haram, government would be able, to know them more and have better understanding of the whole issues agitating their minds. This way, I believe this would even assist our intelligence system.”
On his part, Mike Ezekhome (SAN) warned that Nigerians should be cautious about politicising the issue, saying, “My position is that life is supreme and cannot be duplicated. The lives of these girls should not be trivialized on the altar of grandstanding or pride.
“This is a situation where the federal government should negotiate with Boko Haram for the release of those girls whose parents are traumatised and weeping daily. In life, it is about give and take; you win some and lose some. Even the United Nations recognises negotiation, arbitration as an instrument for achieving peace. All the World Wars finally ended at a table leading to world peace.
“Therefore, I don’t see anything fundamentally bad about negotiating with Boko Haram. I don’t see that as a way of encouraging them to bomb more. Rather, what we are saying is, for now, as a short term measure, these our daughters we don’t want them dead, give them back to us alive and well.
“In other words, let government give them back few of their detainees, especially those we learnt are family members, who were not themselves caught on the street committing the crimes. This is what I think government should do, they should not shy away from it, they should not see it as a loss of face. After all when the militants were devastating Nigeria, the late President Musa Yar’Adua set up the amnesty panel and negotiated with them which brought about peace at the end.”
He added, “Though the cause of the militants cannot be equated with that of the Boko Haram but we should take a cue from that, that there are times when negotiation is very important.
“I think the federal government set up the Turaki panel to negotiate which the Boko Haram rejected. This should be an opportunity to negotiate not just the release of these girls but the causes of the insurgency in its entirety and how to bring about peace and tranquility in Nigeria.”
Also, Ambassador Hassan Adamu, who is the Wakili of Adamawa, said he is in support of negotiation but that government should give certain conditions to the insurgent group.
He said, “Government should negotiate but when dealing with terrorism it is a complex and difficult situation but no government wants to yield to the demands of terrorists while sending a clear message that terrorism cannot win.
“I don’t like the idea of negotiating with terrorists, but I think what should be done while negotiating is that the group abide by the term of the agreement and the rule of law or decisive action be taken against them,” he said.
On her part, Mrs. Temitope Ajayi, a delegate representing the Nigerians in Diaspora said from a mother’s point of view and concern, government should negotiate.
She said: “For me and as a mother, my heart is bleeding. I am on my knees because I know that it is not easy to be a mother and I know all mothers around the world are appealing that these kids be released unharmed.
“Government should negotiate because they have made their demands; the government has to dialogue to see how the genuine ones could be accepted.
“We cannot continue to destroy ourselves and I see this as an opportunity to implore the President and support his wife, Dame Patience to negotiate with the Boko Haram and get our girls back. All the mothers of this world are saying to Boko Haram Don Allah, Don Anabi, yankuri.
Also, a pressure group, the National Unity Forum, at the National Conference yesterday lauded President Goodluck Jonathan for accepting the assistance offered from the international community to rescue the girls.