OPC won’t strike unless it gets approval – Gani Adams on Militant Attacks

The leader of Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), Otunba Gani Adams, has said his organisation would not strike back at the militants terrorising Lagos and its environs until it gets the needed approval from the state government.

In an interview in Lagos yesterday, the OPC leader decried what he described as none committal support from the state government, security agents and leaders of the Yoruba race.

He said his organisation has realised that most of its efforts and sacrifices in the past have always been mistaken and treated as criminal acts in government and security circles.

According to him, OPC needs to get clearance from the state government for it to be able to act decisively.

“That is our position now. Without that we may not act as expected. Even in security circles or even government, if a superior officer does not give a clearance to the rank and file, it will be very difficult for such an officer to act, talk less of OPC.

“We don’t want to be blamed again. However, let me reiterate that we have been doing something underground in our own way to make sure we suppress the militant attacks but fiscal combats without clearance will be difficult for now. Even our people do not often appreciate our sacrifices.

“Any time there is crisis they will be calling OPC but won’t like to support in our efforts to do the right thing.”

Adams, who confirmed that OPC was in Ikorodu on Monday afternoon to assist in repelling the militants in their normal way of approaching such issues, said SARS came in and accused them of attempting to assume their powers.

“But, we told them that we only came in to support, like we normally do in situation like that so as to prevent our people from being killed further like chickens. “When the army, nicknamed operation MESA came, our members approached them and requested for their support to allow them move in to the river area where the militants usually come for attacks.

To our surprise, the commandant called the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of that division who told him to make sure we didn’t carry arms. “You understand that language. So, you can imagine people going to the lion’s den empty handed. Would that not amount to suicide mission? He wanted us to face the militants that have been killing and maiming our people with bare hands.

That alone has put us in a fix psychologically. This is what I have been telling the media since I came back from Europe that if people want us to do this job, would the law enforcement agents not turn it against us and declare our actions illegal? This is why we are now insisting on clearance. I overheard on Tuesday that the Commissioner of Police in the state called our commandant to report to his office.

“I was there and nobody contacted me. What does he want to discuss with him? What will he say? We don’t need to be beating about the bush; we have to approach the problem in a normal way.”

He cited the case of a first class oba in the state that was kidnapped for about three weeks. When that kidnapping took place, he said, there was a lot of casualties in the palace and that community become a ghost town after that.

He further disclosed that his organisation had a meeting on Tuesday where far-reaching decisions were taken.

According to him, the organisation resolved that until the government or its agents agree to partner with them to stop these ugly incidents, there will be no action from them as people are expecting.

“Look at what happened in Igando recently? Did the police succeed in stopping the criminals? You can only be effective when you use people on ground in the locality to face them.

“In Borno, if not because of the civilian JTF, the rate of success in the fight against insurgents that is recorded thus far won’t have been possible. And here, they are pretending, the government of Lagos and Ogun states did not call us, the council of traditional rulers did not call us, the security agents, either police or DSS did not call us and have a word of commitment. If they had done that, we could have had something to hold on to that will enable us to contribute our little quota in seeing to the end of this madness.

“We are not saying that we can do it better than them but we believe we have a role to play in this. It’s in our own interest; it is in the government’s interest. Last year when they were campaigning, one of their supposed major priorities was security of life and property of the citizens of the state but barely one year in office, this has become a major problem.

“Even if the government seems not to be interested, I think the council of obas would have issued a categorical statement condemning this act and pressurise the government to do the right thing, because what happened to the oba of Iba can equally happen to any of them if they don’t act fast.

“Criminals always enjoy a situation where they act on impunity. So, if nothing practical is done about this issue, no one will tell what will happen in future,” Adams said.