TheCable

The Frederick Fasehun-led faction of the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) says it’s dangerous for Abulrahman Dambazau, a former army chief, to liken the group to Boko Haram insurgents.

The OPC is a Yoruba nationalist organisation.

Dambazau had, on Friday, said OPC and the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) are exhibiting features similar to that of Boko Haram when the insurgent group started out in 2009.

But Wasiu Afolabi, OPC president, on Wednesday, said it was not proper for Dambazau to equate the group with Boko Haram insurgents, and that his comparison was “dangerous, prejudiced and false”.

“We disagree with this attempt at blackmail and negative profiling,” he said.

“OPC is not, has never been, and will never be a terrorist organisation. Nobody should link us or liken us with terrorists.

“We have never been on the global radar of terrorism like Boko Haram because we have never even been remotely connected with terrorism.

“Dambazau should realise that there is no federal character in terrorism. The south-west has never bred any terrorist organisation, least of all OPC.”

He, however, urged northern leaders to work towards bringing an end to Boko Haram insurgency, adding that for the south-west, OPC will continue to maintain excellent relationship with security agencies to ensure law and order.

Afolabi said during the #EndSARS protest, “OPC operatives guarded police stations and prevented several of them from being burnt.”

According to him, several divisional police officers (DPO) are witnesses to the patriotic action of the OPC on that occasion.

“OPC, as a socio-cultural organisation formed in 1994, has millions of followers who fought for the entrenchment of democracy as part of NADECO,” he said.

“Agitations, whether for Biafra or Oduduwa Republic, are being fueled by the rising scale of insecurity, the unhindered killings by bandits , kidnapping, and poverty which are challenges that must be tackled.

“As Dr Fasehun always said, Nigeria must come together to the negotiation table and fashion out a truly people’s constitution that will emphasise true federalism, resource control, and devolution of powers.”