Aare Onakakanfo of Yoruba land, Iba Gani Adams, has said that the fallen heroes and heroines of the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC), who died putting their lives in line, were victims of a failed society, disclosing that the group had so far lost over 5000 members in the course of the struggle to liberate the Yoruba race.
Iba Adams stated this on Tuesday at the OPC’s National Secretariat in Ikeja, Lagos, during the 2022 edition of the OPC’s Heroes and Heroines Day, declaring that the wives of the fallen heroes were not widows but “wives that should be taken care of.”
The Yoruba generalissimo, who noted that the event being celebrated is the 8th edition and November 8 of every year arrived at being the very day one of the key members of the group, Kola Arowosaye, was killed in the Somolu area of Lagos, maintained that the many of the OPC’s fallen heroes and heroines deserved the honour for putting their lives on the line in the course of the struggle.
“Widows of our fallen heroes deserve the best because their husbands and breadwinners laid down their lives by paying the supreme price in the course of the struggle.
“Many of the heroes and heroines were part of the struggle that culminated in the democracy we have today.
“The reason for this event is to remember our fallen heroes and heroines because there’s a need for us to support their families and help them in our own little way by putting smiles on the faces of the widows.
“I want to tell our wives that the death of their breadwinners and husbands is not in vain. And our group will continue to play our roles in sustaining the struggle for which they lived and died,” Adams stated.
“We have packaged the little that we can to support their businesses, and this is what we do annually.
“Beyond this, we look into the education of the children and see how we can help in sponsoring those children left behind by our heroines and heroines. We give this to at least two of the widows in all the local governments both in Lagos State and other states in the country,” he added.
Also speaking, OPC Coordinator, Ikorodu North Local Government (LG), Comrade Dauda Asikolaye aka Authority; Asoju Aare Ona Kakanfo, Barr. Yinka Oguntimehin; as well as National Secretary of OPC and Atoloye Aare Ona Kakanfo, Chief Babatunde Tanimowo said the event being held was to celebrate the fallen heroes and heroines and let their widows and others they left know that that the OPC they served did not forget them.
This was just as they assured the widows and the children of the departed not to lose hope, saying that OPC would not forget them and would ensure more services were rendered to them as the situation improves.
The leadership of the group also organized a special prayer session for the fallen heroes and heroines,
Some of the beneficiaries include Mrs Kehinde Ogundana from Ikosi Isheri Local Council Development Area, Adebayo Oluwakemi from Oshodi Isolo LCDA, Sarah Ogunlayo, Adebisi Idayat, Wasiu Olomu, among others.
Guests present at the event include the members of the National Executive Council (NEC) and National Coordinating Council (NCC) of OPC.
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Our fallen heroes, heroines victims of a failed society ― Gani Adams
