By Samuel Ogundipe
Mr. Monsuru Akande, a former National Welfare Officer of the Yoruba socio-cultural group, Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), has fingered the organisation’s long-time leader, Chief Gani Adams, in a series of alleged treacherous and fraudulent activities.
The allegations are coming barely two weeks after the conclusion of the 2015 general elections in which Akande and Adams sparred over political activities of the sectional movement.
Chief Adams, Akande said, drew the ire of some members of the group when he used the OPC platform to endorse the ill-fated re-election of outgoing-President Goodluck Jonathan, a move he added is “the antithesis of the core beliefs of our organisation.”
“The OPC was founded to protect and advance the interest of the Yoruba people, this is why many Yoruba leaders, notwithstanding their political affiliation, have been supporting the group,” Akande said in a statement to the WESTERN POST. “By using it as a platform to gain political relevance and amass wealth for himself, Adams had betrayed the purpose of OPC.”
The OPC was swiftly divided following a protest Adams led to, among other pre-elections PDP positions, call for the resignation of Independent National Electoral Commission Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega.
The protest, which resulted in a traffic gridlock along the busy Ikorodu Road in downtown Lagos, did not go well with other top officials of the OPC, like Akande, who quickly held a press conference to condemn the overt partisanship of their leader.
“It is very wrong for Adams to openly support or use the whims of the OPC to support any candidate because we’re getting support from all the politicians in both PDP and APC,” Akande said.
He alleged that Adams had been using the OPC to enrich himself in lieu of the need to use the not-for-profit group to agitate for the overall betterment of both its members and the entire Yoruba nation. He, therefore, charged Adams to provide answers to some damning allegations against him.
Akande’s allegations against the OPC leader include, but not limited to:
The sale of a piece of land, totaling 15 acres, at Anthony Village in Lagos.
What happened to the plan by Adams leadership of the OPC to construct one 3-star hotel in each of the 6 states that make up the South-west geopolitical zone? In 2007, Members were forced to contribute some monies that will later be converted to shares in the OPC hotels chain. Southwest governors also contributed money to support the project. He went to all governors of the South-west then to collect money from them and their political parties. That was when Asiwaju Tinubu called him a political harlot and severed further relationship with him.
“Tinubu has been our beneficiary for so long, he’d done a lot to empower us, so we want to ask Chief Adams to tell us why he’s fighting this noble man? Tinubu also built his house for him at Abule-Ado and we are very sure he can’t deny that. Gani Adams is not fit to be our leader. His time is up,” he said.
“Can he come out to deny that his country home at Arigidi-Akoko in Ondo State was not built by me? I built the house for him when he was in prison and it was through the financial support of Bola Tinubu. This is why I said anyone within the OPC who accuses Tinubu of not empowering us is an ingrate. He did a lot for us and I urge members of the organisation to remain calm and eschew the backstabbing tactics of Adams”.
In his reaction to the allegations levelled against by Akande, Adams, through his spokesman Hakeem Olarogun, said he had not done anything wrong throughout his leadership in the OPC.
He said Mr. Akande is the one who betrayed the OPC and had since been suspended from the organisation as a consequence.
“I have said I no longer want to react to Monsuru’s (Akande) allegations, but I will reply this time only,” he told WESTERN POST.
“It’s true that he was a Welfare Officer in the party before, but we have suspended him after he tried to overthrow my executive, that’s why you see him running from one media house to another in other to paint me black.”
“Akande is no longer valuable to the OPC and he’s now a history within the organisation. He’s a land grabber working for Owoeye & Co. and everybody knows him. Don’t give him any audience in your paper,” he said.
