Why We Are At War With Gani Adams

Maruff Olanrewaju, the coordinator of the
Kwara State chapter of the Oodua People’s
Congress (OPC), in this interview, speaks on
his experience with the Yoruba liberation
group, the group leaders’ main grouse with
the Gani Adams leadership, the way forward
for Nigeria and the only peace route for OPC,
and more
Maruff Olanrewaju
You are said to be a freedom fighter, how did
it begin with you?
I’m a man who loves his tribe, the Yoruba, and
I can’t stand my people being oppressed.
When I was in school during the June 12 1993
crisis, I admired freedom fighters like the late
Chief Gani Fawehinmi, Dr. Beko Ransome
Kuti. Then strong human rights activists like
Barrister Femi Falana, Olisa Agbakoba, and
many others fighting then for the realization
of Chief M.K.O. Abiola’s electoral mandate.
Since then I had it in mind that I would
become one of those fighting to liberate
Yoruba from the bondage of the Hausa/Fulani
oligarchy. That was about the time the Oodua
People’s Congress (OPC) was born. Before
then, NADECO was the leading organisation
calling for justice on the June 12 struggle.
OPC was formed in 1994 under an
organization called JACON but hardly did
people know OPC then until between 1997 and
1998 when it joined the voices that were
calling for the release of Chief Abiola, the
restructuring of Nigeria, creation of state
police, resources control, among other matters
of national importance. It was then I joined
OPC in which up till date I’m an important
factor.
As an important factor in OPC just as you
have said, please, share your relationship
with one of the leaders of the group, Gani
Adams?
My late father used to tell me that whenever
you find yourself within a group, make sure
you give respect to whom it’s due, meaning
respect who the leaders are and give all your
support to them, obey instructions and never
allow yourself to be used as a tool for
destruction, do not cheat and never accept to
be cheated. In line with this wisdom, I
followed Gani Adams leadership in OPC to the
letter. He can attest to this claim. Whatever
he did that was legal, I gave my total support,
and I love him blindly to the extent that other
members of the group took me as enemy.
This is because I never supported any plot
against Gani. For example, in 2007, there was
a serious crisis in the leadership of OPC when
Gani Adams was alleged of embezzling the
organization’s money and some of his security
aides demanded for N10 million if the crisis
must be settled. During that crisis, I stood
solidly behind Gani because I believed that the
crisis was meant to humiliate him and
question the integrity of his leadership.
So, at what point did crisis come between you
and Gani?
You will recall that I said earlier that OPC was
an organization calling for restructuring,
resource control and state autonomy. If I may
ask, do we have autonomy in OPC? The
answer is no. Let me use this opportunity to
tell the world that Gani Adams leadership is
purely dictatorial as I later realized. Gani
believes in dictatorship, he doesn’t welcome
ideas from other members of OPC, especially
if such ideas contradict his own agenda.
During the 2015 general election, there was
the speculation that Gani Adams collected N9
billion from the Goodluck Jonathan
government to destabilize Yoruba land. I
personally addressed the press on the issue
and debunked the rumour. But later, we got to
know that Gani truly collected money from
Jonathan, which we were told was meant to
empower all members of OPC.
How did you find out he got the money?
He confirmed it later. When he got the money,
he asked all our members to open a dedicated
account in the bank that he would send what
he called employment money to every
member between N200,000 and N250,000. But
that was the last we heard on the issue of the
money and employment. Before the 2015
election, Gani was living at Abule Ado but
immediately after the election, he bought a
mansion in Omole Phase 2. He also bought
brand new jeeps for himself, his wife, and his
only son respectively. He didn’t stop there; he
went to London to launch a radio channel and
news magazine. He did all these without
giving any member of OPC a dime. That was
the point I and like-minded people took it up
with him. We told him that he must step down
as OPC leader since he has betrayed the
confidence we had in him.
The OPC leadership, does it have a term limit
backed by its constitution?
There is no term limit or any leader in OPC
and the constitution is weak. The constitution
was written between 1999 and 2000 when
Gani was already leading the organization but
he refused to sign it because he saw some
aspects in that constitution that he felt was
not favorable to his leadership. He later
wrote a new constitution but he was still
scared of presenting it to the OPC national
coordinating council because he knows that
there is nowhere under the sky where such an
autocratic law is operating.
What is the connection between OPC and
Oodua Progressives Union, OPU?
The connection between the two is that the
both are Yoruba organizations. But the
difference is that when Gani Adams noticed
that he might not survive with his dictatorial
leadership style in OPC, he used OPC money
to establish OPU outside Nigeria with the
intention to destroy OPC so that if he has any
problem with OPC, OPU will come to his
rescue. We will continue to say it, OPC is not
a political organization and it is not affiliated
to any political party. When we say our aim is
to protect the interest of Yoruba but we are
supporting political parties, it means we have
already deviated from our oath and objectives
because Yoruba cut across all political party.
So far, what can you point at as OPC’s
achievements?
Sincerely speaking, OPC has achieved a lot
especially in cultural promotion. We have been
able to showcase our cultural values to the
outside world. Even our home governments
now realize that they can generate a lot of
revenues in tourism if they can invest more in
tourism. We have many tourism attractions
here in Nigeria especially in Yorubaland. We
have the Owu Force in Oke Oyan/Owa Kajola
in Ifelodun local government area of Kwara
State, we have the Oya groove in Ira, Oyun
local government of Kwara State, and we have
hot and cold water flowing together in Ikogosi
in Ekiti State, and a lot more. Moreover, we
still have a long way to go. Our government
needs to come out in full support of cultural
groups like OPC which is doing a lot in
cultural promotions so that our rich culture
which is our only pride will not become
history. OPC originally was born as a liberation
force. It came into being basically to promote
and defend the Yoruba nation when the
Ibrahim Babangida military junta annulled
the June 12, 1993 election. We swore on oath
never to allow the interest of any tribe to
override the Yoruba’s. The first major success
happened when the struggle was hot between
1998 and 1999. The Nigerian government
headed then by General Abdulsalami
Abubakar, a northerner, was forced to endorse
the nomination of two Yoruba men for the
position of number one citizen in Nigeria,
Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and Chief Olu Falae.
But we still have a long way to go even now in
term of emancipation. We are still calling for
the creation of state police, resource control,
let those whose lands produce determine how
they live their lives, let’s have state or
regional autonomy, let’s have true federalism,
Nigeria needs to be restructured if we must
continue to live together in peace. If we are
to look at it critically, you will agree with me
that nothing is working in Nigeria anymore. So,
the only solution to liberating this country is
restructuring. The OPC particularly can’t stop
fighting for liberation when we are not yet at
the destination.
What is your assessment of the Muhammadu
Buhari-led APC government?
Considering his integrity, I would say that
President Muhammad Buhari means well for
Nigeria. But there are two problems I have
identified with his government. One, he came
to power at the wrong time. Wrong time
because things have been so bastardized it
would take even the holiest of men years to
fix. Two, Buhari is surrounded by corrupt
politicians, and he was supported to become
president by this same set of corrupt
politicians, which I see as another reason he
may find it even more difficult to move Nigeria
forward.
As a leader in your own right, how accessible
are your followers to you?
Every member of my organization can tell you
about me. They are the mirror through which I
see myself. I’m a man of the people and my
people have easy access to me anytime.
Do you have any political ambition yet?
No.
Tell us about the empowerment scheme in
your group.
Empowering our members is one agenda that
I take serious. We do it regularly, though with
the little resources available to us. I’m not
ready to disappoint my people because one
leader took away all the money meant for
everyone.
Tell us about yourself and what you are you
doing at the moment.
My name is Salam Maruff Olarewaju. I was
born some years ago in Ondo State but I hail
from Oyan, Ifelodun local government area of
Kwara State. My father is Chief Salam
Atoranse of Ayekale compound, Oke. I had my
primary education in Ondo State and started
the secondary education there which I later
completed at Shao Grammar School in Kwara
State. I also studied Public Administration at
Kwara State Polytechnic in Ilorin where I got
OND and HND. I’m currently studying Finance
Management at the Institute of Finance in the
UK. I also attended Arabic school both in Ilorin
and Lagos State before moving to Abeokuta,
Ogun State where I got Dhanawy certificate in
Arabic. Later, I studied Arabic and Islamic at
Uthman Danfodio University, Sokoto, where I
graduated as an Islamic scholar. I then came
back to practice in Ilorin as an Islamic
teacher which I did for some years before
quitting to face full time business.
Finally, so you foresee reconciliation with the
Gani Adams group?
No. This issue is not about the Kwara OPC
alone. It is about OPC in seven states, Ondo,
Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Delta, Bayelsa and Abuja,
and OPC in 12 local government areas in
Lagos State. So, there won’t be any
reconciliation until Gani Adams quit and allow
OPC to freely choose its leaders. Courtesy Funsho Arogundade of pmexpressng.com