Foremost pan-Yoruba diaspora organisation, Oodua Progressive Union, has dissociated itself from the Saturday invasion of the Oyo state House of Assembly.
The attack, curtailed by policemen and Nigerian Army troops, was carried out by the self-acclaimed Yoruba Nation agitators.
In a statement by the Publicity Secretary of OPU, Chief Victor Mobolaji Adewale, the group said that OPU is purely a Yoruba socio-cultural organization that is presently in 98 countries across the six continents of the world.
“Since its inception in 2011,OPU has been at the vanguard of promoting the cultural identity of the Yoruba race in the diaspora.
“Our diaspora organization has been projecting the Yoruba positively to the world, using its strengths and global network to seek unity and progress of Yoruba race in the diaspora.
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“Our vision is to promote Yoruba culture, peace and unity among the Yoruba in the diaspora and in doing that, we stand for restructuring of Nigeria to federating units that is tied to regionalism.
“OPU has never called for self determination. Our global convener, Iba Gani Adams’ vision and ideals is clearly spelt; and it is about true federalism that is solely based on regionalism.
“We are not against the system and we have been fulfilling our dreams through many of our programmes, including the annual OPU World Congress,held annually across the Southwest region in Nigeria. The last congress was held in Osogbo, where many people benefitted from the free health and humanitarian services of the organization.
“OPU is not against any group or organization’s ideology but we stand for restructuring that is based on regionalism”.
In the same vein, Adewale said it was unfortunate that some agents of distraction came up with lies by mentioning his name and linking him to the trending story that was not rooted in truth and objectivity.
“The online platform mentioned my name as the deputy coordinator of the Yoruba Nation agitators and deputy interim president.
“There was a mixture in the first two names of the man referred to as the coordinator and deputy president of the Yoruba nation group.
“I have been inundated with various phone calls from different quarters on the publication by OPR news.
My name is Chief Mobolaji Victor Adewale and the man’s sworn-in in a viral video last Saturday as interim leader of the Democratic Republic of Yoruba nation name is Mobolaji Olawale Akintola Omokore.
” I am not in anyway related to the deputy coordinator and deputy president of the Dupe Onitiri -led Yoruba Nation agitators that hoisted their flags at the Oyo state House of Assembly.
“However, I need to clear my names and I have instructed my lawyers to write the publishers and seek proper retraction of the publication.
“All my life,I have lived in Sweden for the past 30 years and I have been doing my legitimate business as a transporter in Sweden.
In my life,I have never joined any organization except the OPU and I have risen through the ranks to
become the coordinator of Sweden, Europe and presently, I am the publicity secretary of the OPU.
“However, as the publicity scribe of the OPU, we are determined to keep the hope of the Yoruba race alive by advocating for true federalism that is based on regionalism”, he stated.
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