The National President of the Oodua People’s Congress, Chief Gani Adams, has said the Federal Government must hold talks with the Movement for the Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra and others groups agitating for the State of Biafra.
Chief Gani Adams opined that it is only through dialogue can the agitators be made to drop the idea of a Biafra state; as the use of force is incapable of guaranteeing the unity of the country.
Chief Gani Adams spoke about Biafra and the Zaria massacre by the Nigerian Army and the Islamic Movement of Nigeria in Osogbo after he was honored as a culture ambassador by the Nigeria Union of Journalists Correspondents Chapel, Osun State.
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In his words; “I will just say that they (Biafra agitators) are entitled to their own self-determination. Look, there is a law in Africa that recognizes right to self-determination. Also, there is a law in United Nations that recognizes right to self-determination. There is a country in the United Nations that has a population of not up to 50,000 and their flag is at the United Nations”.
“You can’t use force to co-opt people for the unity of Nigeria; you have to listen to their agitation. If we cannot give you secession, should we give you statism or regionalism? That is a process of negotiating. The British did not use force against Scotland when it seceded from Britain, and there is Catalona in Spain that wants to pull out, they didn’t use force against them.”
Chief Gani Adams further warned that the killing of five supporters of Biafra, who were celebrating the Federal High Court ruling ordering the unconditional release of Radio Biafra Director, Nnamdi Kanu, was a very serious problem and uncalled for.
The Firebrand leader said “it was wrong for soldiers to have opened fire on the defenseless members of the sect for allegedly blocking the road and attacking the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai”.
“What happened in Kaduna is not what Nigerians are expecting right now, especially with the crisis of Boko Haram, the agitation of the MASSOB. I will appeal to the military and other security agencies to be calm when they have provocation from different citizens of this country”.
“In civilised country, you don’t kill your citizens like that, even when they provoke you, you should pamper them in order to avoid such ugly situation. Even though they embarrassed the Chief of Army Staff, they (the army) should have disarmed them and arrest the leader for questioning and not using weapon to kill people like that. International community will not overlook such a thing”.
“Killing unarmed and innocent people like fowls should not be accepted in any sane democracy. The president have to be very careful, he should not play into the hands of some people.”
Otunba Gani Adams is a Nigerian social activist, politician and business mogul. He is a founding member and National Co-ordinator of the Oodua Peoples Congress, a socio-cultural group formed in 1994 in order to promote Yoruba and her culture.
Gani Adams rose to nationwide popularity after Inspector General of Police Musiliu Smith declared him wanted in 2000 with a financial reward of N100,000 for his group’s involvement in violent clashes. He was however arrested on 22 August 2001 but was later released after being held in prisons in Lagos, Abeokuta and Abuja.
