Gani Adams
| credits: PUNCH
| credits: PUNCH
Leader, Oodua Peoples Congress, Otunba Gani Adams, speaks
on the controversial contract for the protection of pipelines in the
South-West, his disagreement with OPC founder, Dr. Frederick Fasehun,
kidnapping and his family life
Now that kidnapping is taking place in the South-West, which is the home of the Oodua Peoples Congress, what is happening?
It is happening because we don’t have
proper backing from the governments of the states in the South-West. For
any security organisation to be successful, there must be some backing
from the government. The state governments of the South-West, except
maybe Osun, don’t think that OPC has anything good to offer. Even where
I’m living in Lagos, the governor of the state has not called me as the
leader of OPC to ask my opinion about Boko Haram or kidnapping. A very
good leader should be able to carry along all stakeholders for a
successful administration, especially on the issue of security. But in a
situation where they display a nonchalant attitude, what can one do?
There was a time I called the governor and told him that I wanted to
have a discussion with him, he didn’t give a damn. When the former
governor was there, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, within three months, he would
call you and ask you what you thought of the goings on in the polity. He
was accessible but I don’t understand the present governor, Raji
Fashola. I know of a number of important personalities that have called
me to ask whether I could help them have access to the governor but I
told them that I don’t have such access. So, when you don’t have access
to a governor, it is difficult for you to offer any form of assistance
on the basis of security. We have played our part without any support
from government. The government of Lagos State is not encouraging us at
all. If Mr. Kehinde Bamgbetan (Ejigbo Local Council Development Area
chairman) had been kidnapped during the administration of Tinubu, he
would have called me to ask what I thought about it. If he didn’t call,
his works commissioner then, who is now the Osun State Governor, Rauf
Aregbesola, would have called me. But there is nothing like that in the
present government of Lagos State; they carry on as if our group does
not exist. Even when the issue of Boko Haram happened, the governor
consulted with only the RRS, the Neighbourhood Watch, we only watched it
on television. You can secure an environment in both modern and
traditional ways. For most Lagosians to employ our members to secure
their areas shows that we are effective. So if our low cadre can secure
streets without incidents, why can’t we the leaders do more at the state
level?
There had been reports that OPC
warned Boko Haram members to keep off the South-West. The impression has
been that you work hand in hand with the state governments.
We are working within the resources at
our disposal but we need more to build on our capacity to be able to
help the entire South-West. This is not the issue of money; I’m not
saying we don’t need money but this is not the issue of money alone. We
are talking of encouragement and recognition for what you are doing. It
is not that I need any recognition from any government; God has been
very kind to me. But in a situation where you think you have money to
set up RRS, Security Fund and have your officers as LASTMA, it means you
don’t need us. But the only focus we have is that we have vowed to
protect the interest of the Yoruba people. We cannot say we are packing
out, we need encouragement.
Is that why you applied for pipeline security job from the Federal Government?
The issue of securing the pipelines is a
different thing entirely. Securing the pipelines is an empowerment
programme for members of an organisation that has been in existence
since 1994. There is nothing wrong for leaders of such an organisation
to apply for that because they have suffered detention and illegal
arrests in the past and have been brutalised. For a group that has been
doing a lot of things for the society free of charge, it is not too much
to apply for a security job. Protecting pipelines is not a rosy job too
because it involves lives. If OPC is offered the job, I don’t think it
is asking for too much. Most of the people in government have business
connections that cuts across party affiliations. We know some governors
in PDP and some governors in ACN that have shares together in the same
companies and when they are talking about their business interests, they
don’t clash. They know how to resolve their differences when it comes
to business issues. The pipeline security job is purely business; it is
not as if we are asking for free money. OPC getting involved in pipeline
protection is not a bad idea; for any organisation to be accepted, it
needs empowerment. Let me tell you something people don’t know; I was
expecting Dr. (Frederick) Fasehun to throw more light on it but he
didn’t have information regarding that. For a period of eight years, our
low cadre officers secured the pipeline from Sagamu to Ore. It was just
last year when the police bid for the job that NNPC gave it to them and
they began to have vandalism issues. The pipeline that passes through
Imota from Ikorodu, it is OPC that is securing it. But when the problem
of Arepo happened, we then decided to write a proposal to the NNPC and
the minister of petroleum that OPC has the capacity to secure the entire
South-West. Dr. Fasehun sent a proposal but I don’t know whether he was
aware that I sent mine; you know we have two parallel groups. Since the
reconciliation, we still have OPC led by Gani Adams and the other led
by Dr. Fasehun. The former governor of Ogun State, Gbenga Daniel, saw to
the reconciliation that made me the national coordinator and Dr Fasehun
as founding father and spiritual leader. Nobody made Fasehun founder of
OPC, I will give you the document that we jointly signed together.
Are you saying that each of you sent a proposal asking for the security job unknown to each other?
I don’t know whether he was aware about
my own but I heard that he sent a proposal to the government. There is
no group that can secure the entire states. The job given to Tompolo is
just for about two states, some part of Ondo and Delta states for about
N8.5bn. The one given to Asari Dokubo was for part of Rivers State for
the sum of N1.6bn and the same job was given to self determination
leaders in Bayelsa State. So when you are talking of the South-West, I’m
not saying you should give me everything. They should share it between
us.
Have you got a response to your own proposal?
You know how government bureaucracy
works. We have sent the proposal and we have discussed at the level of
the presidency. We are still expecting a response.
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