Aare Ona Kakanfo, the Yoruba generalissimo, Gani Adams, has restated his commitment to the unity and peace in yorubaland as well as Nigeria in general
Speaking with journalists in Ilorin during sensitization programme on security for members of the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), Adams at the Government Secondary School, Adeta on Tuesday said that security requires the collective efforts of the people concerned as a community.
He expresed disappoint over alleged politicisation of security issues by some South West governors who he said are presently recruiting private individuals to form state security apparatus.
Aare Ona kakanfo, said that politics should be differentiated from issues of security, adding that without security there can’t be good governance.
He commended present complementary roles between the police and the OPC on security matters, especially in the South West, adding that stakeholders should support the collaboration rather than work against it.
“Do you know that some South West governors are recruiting their political errand boys for security purposes without consulting me or the OPC anymore. And when the issue of security threats come, they’ll remember to call the Aare ona kakanfo to come and intervene. I’m not getting salary from government, but I’ve been using my money to run this position and our money for this organization.
“An example is in Ogun state, some few people were taken to forest to be personal private security of the state government. It’s condemnable. We should differentiate between politics and security. Without security there can’t be good governance. When a government politicize security, it’s doomed to fail. It’s a signal to Nigeria. If there’s any security problems in the area they should not hold me or the IG responsible. The IG has done his part, partnering with organization with antecedents. But some of our governors want to politicize security issues. It’s uncalled for and it’s unacceptable”, he said.
Adams also reiterated call for restructuring of the nation, saying the only way to move Nigeria forward is through restructuring back to federating units.
“The problem we have in Nigeria is that we don’t want to agree on how to solve our problems. In as much as we continue to do that there will still be impediments on our way. The only way to move Nigeria forward is through restructuring back to federating units. By then every region will develop at its own pace. Most of the problems compounded by federal structure is not necessary. Through federating units there will be room for innovation by political leaders and regions. Issue of security would be tackled by federal and state police.
“Without restructuring we are deceiving ourselves. Our government do not know that voice of people is voice of God. It would be hard to run a governmet if you say you have power as a government to suppress or ignore voice of people. This is because before people clamour for something, God has assigned it from heaven. So, a good government must listen to voice of the people.
“I’ve moved round. I recently called for repair of Badagry-Mile 2 road last week. There’s no any federal road in South West that’s motorable. Do we need to spend lots of money taking flights here and there because of bad roads? Most of the main roads are federal roads. Lagos to Ilorin should be a three-hour journey. It could have been a pleasure travelling on roads seeing serene environment and different communities. What stops us from having good roads? We have the resources. We are not allowing our federating units to generate resources for government. If government had allowed federating units to generate resources, our revenue generation would have been more than what we have today. Definitely, our contractors would have confidence in us. An example is that collaboration we have with police for security in the South West”, he said.
He also described call for name change of Yoruba as diversionary, saying, “We don’t need that. It’s unnecessary. I don’t know why my brother is bringing about that issue. Yoruba people have been bearing the name for about 8,000 years. I see people calling for name change as agents of destruction”.
Also commenting on why he retains the headship of OPC alongside his office as Aare Ona kakanfo, Adams said that he merited the ancient traditional title by reason of his large force of OPC members adding that the Slaagin in his wisdom had the foresight to have made him sit in the place where wealthy capitalist occupy in times past.
He said that the essence of his being on the throne is to ensure that there is peace in Yorubaland and the country at large.
