Gani Adams to YPM: Remain resolute, don’t allow moneybags to derail you

NATIONAL coordinator of Oodua People’s Congress (OPC), Otunba Gani Adams, has urged leadership of Yoruba Patriot Movement (YPM), a non- political movement, to stay resolutely on the set goal and objective of the group and not allow moneybag politicians to derail them.

Adams made this call on Wednesday while speaking with the Tribune Online, shortly after he hosted the leadership and members of YPM, led by Chief Oladosu Oladipo, who had come on a visit to his Omole Phase 2 residence in Lagos.

Otunba Adams and Chief Oladipo admitted that both OPC and YPM were on the same page in terms of genuinely committed to pursuit of Yoruba nation’s interest, declaring that Yoruba nation cannot continue to eat under the table anymore and, therefore, its past glory must be restore to it.

Otunba Adam, who attested to fact that YPM had a very good mission, also charged leaders and members of the group to ensure that struggle for position does not divide their rank and file.

“I shared my experience with them that the starting is just part of the job. They should not allow moneybags to hijack them because they have a very good mission and they should not allow position to divide them. In as much as they have their leaders, they should rally round and stay behind their leaders. And they should not allow politicians amongst them to weaken the goal.

“They have a good goal, their movement is also needed by the Yoruba race,” Otunba Adams said.

Speaking on the thrust of the meeting which lasted about two hours and attended by former Senior Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to President Goodluck Jonathan, Dr. Doyin Okupe; Prof. Soji Adejumo, Ambassador Dare Babajide, Omoba Segun Adewale, Chief Tunji Adeoye, Alhaji Ali Oyedeji, among others, Adams said it was about attaining unity of Yoruba race and the restructuring of the country.

“The meeting is about unity of Yoruba race and how Yoruba nation can function properly and it also involved discussions about how our country can be restructured. These are the three contexts and at the same time I am very happy meeting a powerful delegation of Yoruba.

“Having discussed with them for a period of two hours, I realised that we share some ideology on how Yoruba race can become great again,” the OPC leader said.

“Although in their own group, they have some partisan people within the group because, according to the coordinator, the group accommodates various political parties in Nigeria.

“But notwithstanding, the interest of Yoruba race is highly paramount in their mind. So without taking too much of your time, the meeting is highly resourceful and I believe they would be part of the contest in achieving Yoruba greatness in future,” he added.

The OPC, therefore, promised to always offer his support to the group where needed to the best of his ability, adding, “So any support that we can give to them, I will try and give in my own capacity.”

Also speaking the National coordinator of YPM, Chief Oladipo, who maintained that the group was not affiliated to any political party in the country, restated that the unity of Yoruba nation was of paramount concern to members and leaders.

According to him, everyone who is a patriot in Yoruba nation must work together to achieve such target for the Yoruba nation.

He said the group came on a visit to Otunba Adams to rally him for the task ahead because he also shared in the mission and believes in set goal of pursuit of Yoruba nation’s interest.

“Like Chief Obafemi Awolowo rightly postulated, he said only the deep will call to the deep. He (Adams) is deep and because he is deep, we are deep and if we meet together, definitely it will be a larger something.

“Our aims and objectives are congruent, they are the same. Therefore, we should cooperate; we should align in the interest of the Yoruba race.

“When it comes to the issue of security, when it comes to culture, they are in the forefront. But when it comes to intellectual input and what they can say complete infrastructure, we too we are very solid. If we combine the two together with all these issues, we can navigate the cataracts in Nigeria and Yoruba nation we are so solid in terms of job creation, in terms of empowerment, in terms of youth development, in terms of cultural development, in terms of virtually everything.

“Right now, production function of Yoruba when it comes to tomatoes, “tatase” and so on is at low ebb because there is no dry season farming for irrigation which is very common in the North. All these should happen in Yoruba land. And when we have good production function and we are producing, the wealth creation for the entrepreneurs going into farming and to other trades would be easier.

“So that is our focus and already the YPM has inaugurated a very solid committee to version out an economic agenda for Yoruba nation. That economic agenda will look at things in every ramification and would look at the states’ area of specialisations and where they have special, distinctive advantage that is where they would produce.

“We are on the same page, the same paragraph. So we are together, we will work together to make Yoruba nation great,” Oladipo said.