OPC honours Awo, Abiola, Soyinka, 18 others on Thursday
The Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) says it plans to honour late Chief Moshood Abiola, Prof. Wole Soyinka and late Dr. Fredrick Fasheun at its silver jubilee anniversary slated for Thursday in Lagos.
Aare Onakakanfo of Yorubaland, Chief Gani Adams, said in a statement on Sunday that the journey that started 25 years ago was not an easy thing.
The aare onakakanfo explained that it was the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election that culminated in the establishment of the organization.
“The zeal and patriotism of some Yoruba nationalists to liberate Nigeria from the brutal, ferocious and savage hold of military junta led to the thrusting of OPC into national consciousness on August 29 1994.
“The late Dr. Fasehun, myself and seven others took a critical and patriotic decision that the mandate of the late Aare Moshood Abiola (M.K.O.) annulled must be actualised and Nigeria must be set free from the clutches of dictatorship.
“Five years after the formation of OPC, democracy took a firm root in the country in 1999; today it is a thing of joy that we have 20 years of uninterrupted, participatory democracy in Nigeria.
“But, this is not without sacrifice, the late Abiola, whose mandate was annulled in 1993, alongside OPC leaders, fought for the actualisation of the June 12.
“But sadly, the business mogul died in detention in controversial circumstances during the regime of General Abdulsalami Abubakar on July 7, 1998,” Adams said.
The OPC leader said that many Nigerians that protested the continued detention of Abiola were shot on the streets by soldiers between 1993 and 1998.
“Some Nigerians such as Pa Alfred Rewane, Mrs. Kudirat Abiola, Alhaja Suliat Adedeji, Admiral Tunde Elegbede, James Bagauda Kaltho, Shola Omasola, Oluwatoyin Onagoruwa and Ken Saro-Wiwa were killed.
“Activists and journalists such as Chief Gani Fawehinmi, Olisa Agbakoba, Frank Kokori, Kunle Ajibade, Chris Anyanwu, Ben Charles-Obi, Onome Osifo-Whiskey, Babafemi Ojudu and others were detained and some jailed.
”Prof. Wole Soyinka, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and others were forced to relocate from Nigeria; it was a period of persecution, victimisation and wickedness.
“But, today, democracy has come to stay. OPC is 25 years and we have every reason to remember Nigeria’s heroes and those who have been forgotten,” he said.
Adams also expressed regret that despite the death of a number of nationalists and sacrifices of the fallen heroes, not so much has been achieved under the nation’s democracy.
He said that special awards would be presented to 21 eminent Nigerians, including the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, late MKO Abiola, Gani Fawehinmi, Dr. Beko Ransome- Kuti, Pa Adekunle Ajasin, Abraham Adesanya, Justice Adewale Thompson, Amb. Segun Olusola, Chief Rasheed Gbadamosi, Olumide Adeniji, Tony Ngrube, Prof. Sophie Oluwole and others. (NAN)
