The Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yoruba Land, Iba Aare Gani Adams, has said that members of the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), were not involved in the clash between the Yoruba Nation demonstrators and the personnel of Lagos State Police Command, at Ojota, Lagos.
The Informant247 earlier reported that a male adult (identity not yet disclosed) on Monday lost his life in a clash between the agitators of the Yoruba Nation and the police in Ojota, Lagos State.
The incident was confirmed by the spokesperson of the police Command, Benjamin Hundeyin.
People around reportedly ran for their own lives.
It was gathered that some agitators of the Yoruba Nation were out for demonstration, and were faced by the police operatives who have come to stop them.
The security personnel got to the location and teargassed the crowd of demonstrators.
A police van was set on fire in the ensuing pandemonium.
Gani Adams has through his Special Assistant on Media, Kehinde Aderemi, revealed that the Ojota demonstration carried out by the agitators of the Yoruba sociocultural organization caught everyone unaware.
He said members of the members of the OPC were not involved in the crisis.
Adams, who’s also the national coordinator of OPC, has falsified the claim that members of the OPC were part of the crisis.
He described such claim as mischievous, wicked, and uncalled for.
He said the unverified report could cause further crisis especially between the members of the OPC and well meaning citizens of Yoruba race.
“Let me clear the air on the crisis that had engulfed Ojota this morning.There were unconfirmed reports linking members of the OPC to the mayhem.I want to state it clearly that none of our member were at the scene of the incident,” he said.
He further revealed that, “OPC is not against the liberation of Yoruba race, however,it is a fact that the struggle for the liberation of Yoruba race is an inalienable right of all Yoruba to champion self determination.We are not part of the peaceful rally held in Ojota.
“Our position on regionalism is very clear.It is sacrosanct, because that is what we are seeking at the moment.
“Nigeria should be restructured to full regional autonomy,where each region will be at liberty to operate at their own pace.
“It is unfortunate that the report was done in bad faith to discredit our organization.
“How can people be so mean to spread such sensitive information that OPC attacked the Yoruba nation agitators?
“Such information was wicked, mischievous, and uncalled for and could trigger crisis and cause unnecessary disaffection between the OPC and sons and daughters of Yoruba race.
“This was the fourth time that such information had been spread against the OPC and it is very sad and unfortunate that the purveyors of such inciting information are doing it in bad faith.
“So, members of the public should not be deceived by unconfirmed reports, however,it is the sacred responsibility of the media to investigate any report before going to the Press.
“Information at my disposal from the visual contents of happenings in Ojota indicated a peaceful rally that later gone awry, leaving in its wake a bitter experience that led to the death of one of the Yoruba nation agitators.
“It is unfortunate that such crisis could lead to such fracas that eventually claimed one life.”