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By
Prof. Tunde Babawale
Department of Political Science,
University of Lagos,
Akoka, Lagos.
Being a Paper Presented at the event to mark the 25th Anniversary of the formation of the Oodua Peoples’ Congress (OPC) held at the Grandeur Event Centre, Ikeja, Lagos
Introductio
Introduction
Permit me to begin this lecture by first congratulating members and the leadership of the Oodua Peoples’ Congress (OPC) on this historic occasion of the 25th Anniversary of the founding of the Oodua Peoples’ Congress, the primus inter Pares and pioneer among her peers in Nigeria and Africa. Importantly, I felicitate with Iba Gani Abiodun Ige Adams, the Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland and the Coordinator of the Oodua Peoples’ Congress worldwide on this celebration.
Let me thank the Committee put in place to organize this silver jubilee anniversary of the Congress for the honour of finding me worthy to be invited to give the lecture at this important celebration. I must say that I am indeed humbled by this decision.
All Royal Majesties and Highnesses, the Aare Ona Kakanfo and his Council of Chiefs, the Yeye Aare, the leadership of the Oodua Peoples’ Congress, Distinguished ladies and gentlemen here present. I must say that being saddled with the responsibility of delivering this lecture to this august gathering is enormous. This is not for the want of what to say but this lecture and indeed this occasion relives and brings to memory the journey so far and the milestones covered not only through the establishment of the Oodua Peoples’ Congress but through her impacts on the Yoruba people and Nigeria as a whole. Besides the foundation of Egbe Omo Oduduwa, an umbrella organnization that rallied together the young people in the outright rejection of colonialism and demand for political emancipation, no organization in recent annals of Yoruba history and perhaps entire history of Nigeria appear to have the mass appeal of the Oodua Peoples’ Congress, OPC as it is widely known. As a clear testimony to its widest appeal, the leader under and through whom the organization has been transformed and who proudly continues to hoist its flag high emerged from a humble background among the mass of the people.
Addressing a gathering of this nature also thrust on me the responsibility of being a dutiful record keeper and an objective chronicler of the history and milestones recorded by the Oodua Peoples’ Congress in the last 25 years. In the course of getting this done, certain truths compellingly must come up. The intention therefore is not to be rude or offensive, rather it is a responsibility thrusted upon me by this onerous assignment.
I must say that I was a partaker in the events that led to the formation of the Oodua Peoples’ Congress. Casting my mind back, I recall that I actively took part in the decapitation of military rule. Then I was a young scholar at the University of Lagos (Unilag) having left Adeyemi College of Education in Ondo Town, Ondo State. Shortly after I got appointed at University of Lagos, some 28 years ago, I became the Secretary of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) Unilag branch. This election as ASUU Secretary enhanced my participation in the struggle against military rule and the return of democracy to our beloved country Nigeria. It was in the course of this assignment that our paths crossed with key actors in the formation of the Oodua Peoples’ Congress. With humility, permit me therefore to say that as a participant in these events I am well placed to recall and talk about the Oodua Peoples’ Congress. Consequently, I set out to explore the best possible ways I can do justice to the theme of this lecture to meet the high expectations of all distinguished personalities gathered here today.
The Foundation of the Oodua Peoples’ Congress
Before the Oodua Peoples’ Congress was formed, self-determination groups in Southwest Nigeria have existed for several years. Prominently, the Egbe Omo Oduduwa, Egbe Afenifere and the O’odua Youth Movement were formed before the OPC. In fact, some of members the OYM formed the nucleus of the OPC. As an ethnic nationality organization and self- determination group, the OPC, which derives its name from Oduduwa, the progenitor of the Yoruba race, was formed on 29th August, 1994. The OPC basically among other reasons was founded to defend, protect and promote Yoruba interests.
Like the Yoruba group whose interest was the raison d’etre for her foundation, among her peers in recent times, the Oodua Peoples’ Congress continues to attract scholarly attention and reference in discourses on ethnic nationality organizations in Africa. Events that led to the founding of OPC was in direct reaction to the annulment of the results of June 12, 1993 Presidential Election that was won by Aare Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, a business mogul of Yoruba extraction. Prior to and during the botched and short-lived political transition of the 3rd Republic, Nigerians had to endure a tenuous transition to civil rule having had a long spell of an intolerable malevolent military dictatorship. A report of the Human Rights Watch 2003 captures the period, according to it,
the creation of the OPC was a specific reaction to the annulment of the elections of June 12, 1993, by the military government of the time, and the subsequent arrest of Moshood Abiola (a Yoruba), the candidate widely believed to have won the cancelled presidential elections, who later died of a heart attack in detention in July 1998. Outrage at the annulment of these elections, combined with the broader struggle against military repression and frustration at political and economic marginalization, acted as strong motivating factors to galvanize the disenfranchised population, particularly the youth.
HYPERLINK “https://www.hrw.org/report/2003/02/28/oodua-peoples-congress-opc/fighting-violence-violence” https://www.hrw.org/report/2003/02/28/oodua-peoples-congress-opc/fighting-violence-violence
Among the founding members of the OPC was the late Dr. Frederick Fasehun, a medical doctor by profession. Dr Fasehun was the first national coordinator of the Congress. At the time of its establishment, the OPC also had in its membership, a number of highly skilled professionals, intellectuals, students, artisans and several activists involved in the struggle for democracy and human rights. In an excerpt taking from the Handbook on Oodua Peoples’ Congress, Chiedozie Okoro (2005: 30) avers that:
The Oodua Peoples’ Congress came into being on August 29th, 1994 at No. 105 Palm Avenue, Mushin with the following people in attendance: Tony Engurube (an Ijaw national now deceased), Ibrahim Atanda, Gani Adams (National Coordinator, OPC), Mrs Idowu Adebowale, Frederick Fasehun, (Founding Father OPC), Alhaji Ibrahim Abobanawo, Silas Atanda, Evangelist Kunle Adesokan, Olumide Adeniji (Organizing Secretary)
However, as the organization developed, cracks occurred within its ranks which led to a split in the leadership. Some members were loyal to Frederick Fasehun and others followed the current Aare Ona Kakanfo, Iba Gani Adams. The split appeared occasioned by misunderstanding, different methodology and approach to issues. Thus, OPC’s membership was sharply divided between the conservative and the radical groups. It represents a marked division between the old and the young. The conservatives were reported to have been compromised in the course of engaging with mainstream politicians. On the other hand, the younger and more radical elements within the Congress led by the then youthful Gani Adams was less willing to compromise and objected to the OPC participation in the military orchestrated political transition programme.
As enshrined in her constitution, the core objectives of the OPC include: “to identify with our historical and cultural origin with a view to re-living the glory of our past for the purpose of posterity; to educate and mobilize the descendants of Oduduwa for the purpose of the above; to integrate the aspirations and values of all the descendants of Oduduwa into a collective platform of an Oodua entity; to monitor the various interests of descendants of Oduduwa […] and struggle for the protection of these interests; […] to further the progress of Oodua civilization by protection and promoting our value, mores and the inter-generational transmission of same.”
Membership and Organisational Structure of the OPC
People join the OPC for a variety of reasons. Some subscribe to its membership because they identify with its political ideology and the Yoruba self-determination agenda. Others do so to feel protected from political, economic or social discrimination or simply because they are impressed by the image of the organization. The mass of young people and unemployed men simply took advantage of the organization as a channel for venting their general frustration against a system that has left them pauperized and marginalised.
Since it was created, the Oodua Peoples’ Congress has grown in leaps and bounds. OPC represents in its true essence, a popular mass based grass root organization. Although it is difficult to determine the population of its members, information gleaned from Human Rights Watch publications indicates that as at 2003, OPC had more than five million members spread across Nigeria and particularly in cities and towns where there is a sizeable presence of the Yoruba. The biggest concentration of OPC membership is in the Southwestern states of Lagos, Ogun, Osun, Ondo, and Oyo, and Ekiti. Although Kwara, and Kogi states do not belong to the South-west geo-political zone of Nigeria, these states boast of large presence of the Yoruba. By a virtue of Yoruba presence due to filial or diasporic affinity, OPC membership has extended to several West African countries, like Benin, Togo, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Sierra Leone, the Gambia and Senegal. OPC members are also found in countries such as Brazil, Germany, Jamaica, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.
As a true mass based popular organization, OPC draws its membership from literate and non-literate individuals that subscribe to its precepts and ethos. The membership and leadership of the OPC consist of professionals and people with a high level of education and political awareness. Its members cover a broad spectrum of ages that is blind to sex. There are also female members of the Congress. Within the OPC, majority of its rank-and-file members are young, some unemployed people and many from the rural areas. It is a grassroots movement, with mass membership in the states where the Yoruba are in the majority. Based on its geometric membership size, many acts of violence have erroneously been attributed to the organization
As a mass based organization, OPC has strict disciplinary procedure, outlined in not only its constitution but also its document named “Code of Conduct of the OPC”. Erring members within the organization face disciplinary action such as “reprimand, payment of compensation and/or performance of useful task, suspension and expulsion.” Offenses that attract serious sanction within the organization include acts that undermine the effectiveness and reputation of the organization, corruption, sexual abuse, fighting, and “sowing seeds of religious or any other form of discrimination.”
As an organization that continues to get membership subscription, the OPC has a strict hierarchical structure and chain of command that ensures effective and efficient communication. The Annual National Conference is the supreme decision-making body. The OPC also has executive committees at national, zonal and state levels. The National Executive Council is its governing body. At the local level, every member is required to belong to a branch and the branches are grouped into zones, which are in turn grouped into sub-regions. There are also different wings, including a women’s wing, and sections responsible for different activities. The section known as Eso among other functions concentrates on providing security and vigilantism. They are involved in vigilante activities and ensuring discipline, for example during meetings or public events. Another group, known as the monitoring group has the duty of clearing and preventing traffic log jam during OPC programmes.
OPC’s Changing Methodology
Despite the existence of these codes and organizational structure, the OPC remains on the front burner of media discourse usually on trumped up accusations of perpetrating violence. As an organization, the negative labels pasted on the OPC are primarily caused by negative publicity forced on it at its inception.
OPC it would be recalled began in reaction to atrocities of military rule, the high point of which was the annulment of widely acclaimed free and fair June 12, 1993 Presidential Election. The agitation for the de-annulment of the election, the call for the swearing in of the presumed winner of the election and the resistance of the military junta of General Sani Abacha were the conditions under which OPC was birthed. These conditions coupled with the core objectives of the organization and the need to meet them thrusted upon OPC the method adopted in realizing its raison d’etre. Naturally, under the situation, OPC found out that the means to realize its objectives could not have been without some measure violent resistance. It was under this prevalent situation that OPC operated till the eclipse of military rule and by the return to civil democratic rule in 1999.
After civil rule returned, the strong arm tactics and scotched earth policy which the military used to prevail on the entire country continued even under the civilian administration of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. As a result, the militancy and nationalistic posture of the OPC was intensified. There was widespread demand for the convocation of a Sovereign National Conference with the OPC becoming one of its arrowheads
OPC consequently began to metamorphose into a self-determination ethnic militant organization. It began to function as a cultural nationalist organization as well
OPC militant activities were also accentuated under the prevalent state of insecurity in most south-west states particularly Lagos State. Lagos State shortly, after return to civil rule, was overwhelmed by a spate of armed robberies and other crimes. Consequently, due to the helplessness and incapacitation of the state security system, OPC informally came to the aid of the populace. According to Bayo Lawal (2005: 131),
… there are many groups that support the OPC and appreciate its contributions to the promotion of justice, peace and order in the Nigerian Society. There are residents in urban centers whose lives and property are still being protected by the OPC. Armed robbers have been driven away from certain areas and the residents are now enjoying their sleep for long hours, without any embarrassment by unwanted night marauders.
Most lock up shops are now safe both during the day and at night because of the presence of OPC members. In the past, burglars in large numbers have caused incalculable losses to several market women, men and traders despite their hire of security guards who collected ample monthly salaries…
Too many proprietors and proprietresses of filling station are grateful to the OPC for their invaluable assistance in stopping the menace of armed robbers and other gangs that visit them at odd hours and carry away proceeds of their sales…
Instead of the police to see these forms of assistance as complementary, they hid under accusations of excesses of some members of the organization to clamp down on OPC particularly its leadership. The police failed to acknowledge its own incompetence.
It is important to add that, the participation of OPC in security vigilante activities attracted some negative perception from the public.
This necessitated a review of strategies in order to re-position the organisaiton and improve its image before the public.
The Transformation of the OPC
In the last 25 years, the OPC has moved progressively from being primarily engaged in militancy and vigilantism to the promotion and propagation of Yoruba culture and heritage both within and outside the country. Numerous programmes and festivals like the Olokun festival are being regularly held to showcase Yoruba culture. This has also resulted in the promotion of cultural diplomacy which as admitted by Scholars like Nye, ensures that a country and its people can achieve influence internationally without a resort to the use of strong-arm tactics. Diplomacy can be described as a method in personal, official, governmental and international relations used with the specific objective of achieving cordial, friendly and peaceful relations or coexistence.
This is not to suggest that the organisation has totally abandoned militancy in the pursuit of its main objectives. Aare Gani Adams in his recent interventions on the vexed issue of the herdsmen invasion of the Southwest and the rising wave of kidnapping and other criminal activities suspected to be largely perpetrated by outside forces made it clear that the movement will not shy away from mounting resistance if Yorubaland continues to be the target of external aggressors.
It is commendable that the movement takes very seriously the conscientization and political education of its members through the organization of regular lectures, conferences and symposia. This without doubt has improved the image of the organization. As part of efforts to continuously re-brand and re-position the movement, certain steps ought to be taken to strengthen its disciplinary procedures and put its erring members on notice.
What Needs to be Done
Leading officials of both factions of the OPC, at national and local levels of the organization, should reiterate explicitly to their membership that acts of criminal violence and human rights abuse will not be tolerated. Public statements should be backed up by action, including the immediate dismissal of any OPC members involved in violence. Leaders should make clear to their members that human rights violations by the federal government or the police, however serious, are never a justification for responding in kind.
OPC leaders should take responsibility and be accountable for human rights abuses carried out by their members, especially in view of the clear structure, hierarchy, internal communication and disciplinary procedures that exist in the organization. OPC leaders should publicly condemn any incident of violence in which OPC members have participated. They should also acknowledge that OPC members have engaged in serious acts of violence in the past, as a first step towards improving the image and the conduct of the organization, and cooperate with the police and judicial authorities in investigating these incidents and identifying those responsible.
Give clear instructions to OPC members involved in vigilante work to immediately hand over to the police any suspected criminal they apprehend. OPC members must avoid the temptation to dispense their own form of justice to alleged criminals, such as beatings, torture, or extrajudicial killings. Every criminal suspect has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty by the competent judicial authorities. While OPC members, like any citizens, can assist the police in detecting and reducing crime, such initiatives should always be carried out in cooperation with the police.
Reiterate to OPC members that they should not engage in political violence or hire out their services to politicians who are seeking to recruit thugs in the period leading up to elections, or at any other time.
It is important for the Congress to go back to the days of forging alliances with like-minded organisations across the country to facilitate the achievement of its own objectives.
It is commendable that in recent years the OPC has adopted more of a strategy of diplomatic engagement than the quick resort to militarism. Even in the face of provocative violence visited on several parts of the Southwest allegedly by Fulani herdsmen, the leadership of the movement has gone into series of engagements with the representatives of the state such as the Inspector-General of Police, other prominent government officials and members of the diplomatic community in order to find a peaceful means of addressing the problem. One important strategy that the OPC has adopted to maintain cohesion within its ranks is to open up local economic opportunities for its members.
This empowerment strategy must be reinforced in subsequent years as part of efforts to reposition the organization.
Conclusion
It has been stated clearly in this paper that the OPC emerged in response to the authoritarianism of Military rule that culminated in the criminal annulment of the June 12, 1993 election, largely believed to have been won by Late Chief M.K.O. Abiola (of blessed memory).
The threat of internal colonialism, domination and subjugation of the Yoruba nation within the context of Nigeria further gave impetus to the formation of the organisaiton. Quite unfortunately, 25 years after, the fears of ethnic marginalisaiton still persist in Nigeria. Organisations like the OPC can only be encouraged to continue along the path of the promotion of cultural nationalism and diplomacy when the country is able to genuinely institute democratic governance, promote social justice and economic equity, entrench innovative and productive politics, respect individual and group rights and restructure Nigeria to make it a federation in word and in deed. Otherwise, when violence is visited on the people, it is hypocritical and pointless not to expect resistance from organisations like the OPC. Action and reaction as it is often said, are always equal and opposite.
I thank you all for listening.
