3 months ago
18 ARTICLE AD
The Oodua People’s Congress has called on President Bola Tinubu to restore the pipeline security contract that was taken away from the organisation by former President Muhammadu Buhari.
The President of OPC, Wasiu Afolabi, disclosed this at the organisation’s 30th anniversary celebration held in Lagos State on Thursday.
Afolabi urged the government to give the body the opportunity to contribute to the energy security of Nigeria.
He noted that restoring the pipeline security contract would tackle unemployment in the South-West, Kogi, Kwara, and Edo states and put an end to pipeline vandalism in the region.
He emphasised that OPC had done it before and could do it again, citing the organisation’s past successes in securing pipelines and reducing vandalism.
“OPC is today urging President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to give the organisation the opportunity to contribute our quota to the energy security of Nigeria. President Tinubu should restore to OPC the pipeline security contract that Muhammadu Buhari took away from OPC. It will tackle unemployment in the South-West, Kogi, Kwara and Edo states and end pipeline vandalism in this axis. We have done it before, we can do it again,” he said.
Afolabi also lamented that the Yoruba people had two Presidents and 32 governors in the last 25 years, but the OPC had received no benefits despite their significant contributions to democracy.
According to him, not a single local government out of 137 had recognised OPC’s sacrifices, adding that it was an injustice that needed to be corrected.
He said, “In the last 25 years of civilian rule, Yoruba land has been blessed with two sons as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. In the last 25 years, each of the six states of Yoruba land has had at least four governors. Put together, the entire South-West has been ruled by no fewer than 32 elected governors. Which of them has remembered OPC? Which of the 137 local government areas of the South-West with over 1,000 council chairmen can boast of doing anything for OPC since 1999?
“OPC has received virtually zero-benefits in this democracy for which it sacrificed so much to produce. This makes OPC look like the head used to crack the coconut but is denied the benefit of tasting the fruit of its labour and sacrifice. This injustice must be corrected. All we are saying: Let OPC and its members benefit from the democracy that OPC fought and died for.”
Afolabi criticised Nigerian politicians for their selfish and self-serving behavior, citing the country’s poverty rate, insecurity, and lack of basic amenities like electricity, education, and healthcare.
He urged the government to listen to the demands of the Nigerian Labour Congress and the #EndBadGovernance agitators, calling for affordable electricity, education, fuel, gas, and food for the masses.
