Members of the Oodua Peoples Congress in Ekiti State have said they swore to an oath not to attend the protest organised against the Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, in Lagos, on Monday.
The Lagos rally was organised by the OPC National Coordinator, Gani Adams, who has endorsed President Goodluck Jonathan for the March 28 presidential poll.
The Ekiti OPC members said they shunned the rally to protest the neglect of their leader, Niyi Adedipe, also known as Apase, who has been remanded in Ado Ekiti prisons.
Ekiti Deputy Coordinator of OPC, Olowo Oladele, said its members were angry with Adams for attempting to coerce them into his personal agenda without supporting Adedipe in his trying times.
“In fact, we all entered into an oath that nobody should attend the Gani Adams rally in Lagos even if they offer us N1 million each because the freedom of Apase who is an innocent man is very important to us,” he said.
Lateef said, “All the 16 local government coordinators, in solidarity with Apase, decided to stay away from the anti-Jega rally.
“We dissociated ourselves from the anti-Jega rally because we don’t want to lose focus of why OPC was established, which was to protect the interests of the Yoruba anywhere in the world.
“OPC is for Yoruba interest and not for somebody’s personal interests. That is our stand and we have no apology for that. Our members are not interested in any pipeline contract or any filthy lucre for that matter.
“What we are interested in is how our leader, Apase, will be released from prison because we strongly believe that he did not commit the offence for which he is being remanded.”
