Sheriff Balogun in Abeokuta
Oodua Peoples’ Congress (OPC Reformed) on Saturday issued a 14-days ultimatum to Ijaw groups over the invasion, killings and kidnapping being perpetrated in Ogun and Lagos States, saying “if they fail to yield, it will be eye for eye and tooth for tooth.”
In a statement by its President, Comrade Dare Adesope, the group said, “enough of this invasion, killing and kidnapping of our people right on our own soil”.
According to him, “we OPC Reformed have waited so long with dismay, hoping that government will curb the deadly acts of the Ijaw people on the citizens of this country in Ogun and Lagos; but it now dawned on us that lives of we poor masses is of no importance to them.”
He said “it is a known fact that we the Yoruba race are the most contented and most tolerant tribe in Nigeria.”
He added that “this is why we gave warm reception to other tribes coming into our states either to reside or to do business but if they want to take our hospitality for stupidity we will prove to them that the gentility of a tiger is not an act of cowardice.”
He stated that before it was the herdsmen now it is the Ijaw people, saying “enough is enough. If they care to know, we have information and fact about where their leaders’ properties are situated in the entire South-west and where their people reside in our midst as well”, he said.
He therefore, urged Oodua descendants to take the destiny of the race in their hands by giving the OPC Reformed their absolute support, saying “is it until when we are wiped out completely before we react?”
Adesope, who said the mandate of the organisation, which its primary aim is to protect the interest of the Yoruba race, noted that “we are hereby calling on the Ijaw leaders to call their people to order because charity begins at home.”
He, however, implored the Yoruba leaders to convene a meeting very soon on how to put lasting solution to the unwanted crisis in the region.
