
From Emman Victor. Ilorin
The cordinator, of Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) in Kwara state, Maruf Olarewaju, has urged Ijaw leaders in the country to order the Ijaw militants to stop attacks on Yoruba communities in Lagos and Ogun states.
Mr. Olarewaju spoke with The Dream Daily in Ilorin, the state capital at sideline of the National Coordinating Council (NCC) meeting of OPC.
His words: “Yoruba are very accommodating but no other ethnic group should take that as an opportunity to attack or harass the Yoruba people. We reiterate our call on leaders of Ijaw to call their boys to order. We also call on the federal government to protect the lives and property of its citizens. The problem of Yoruba is the politicization of its leadership. I urge Yoruba leaders to close-rank in order to move the Yoruba nation forward.”
On the state of the nation, the OPC chieftain said: “There is no doubt that many Nigerians are currently experiencing hardship. What we need in Nigeria is restructuring; anything short of that is exercise in time wasting. Assuming each state is granted autonomy on the management of its resources and allowed to contribute some percentage of its income to the centre, all the non-payment of salaries would not arise.
“The same thing applies to issue of security. We have been saying it that we need state police. There is nothing we can do about that. If we fail to restructure Nigeria the problems will persist.
“I call on President Muhammadu Buhari to look at the report of the National Confab organized by his predecessor Goodluck Jonathan.”
Speaking on Gani Adams, Olarewaju said that: “The struggle is on course. We have departed with Gani Adams and we made everybody realize the problems and attitude of Gani Adams. I think by now our people are now realizing the truth of our separation from him. I am seeing some faces coming for the national coordinating council meeting for the first time in many years. That is to tell you that people have gained more awareness about the struggle.
“We have repeatedly said that Gani Adams is no more in charge of the OPC, though some people still believe in his course. It is not easy to dislodge him in a day as he has headed the OPC for over 17 years. Notwithstanding we have the majority.”
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