The Oodua People’s Congress has distanced its members from the abduction of the sister of former Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, alongside her twin sons.
The group said those arrested in connection with the incident were not affiliated with the organisation.
The Yoruba socio-cultural group, while commending the Nigeria Police Force for the swift rescue of the victims in Ibadan, Oyo State, on Monday, urged security agencies to deploy the same urgency in rescuing 39 pupils and seven teachers abducted by terrorists in the Ogbomoso area of the state.
In a statement issued in Lagos on Monday, OPC President, Wasiu Afolabi, popularly known as Askari, said the organisation had a long-standing record of supporting law enforcement agencies in tackling criminal activities and providing neighbourhood security services.
Afolabi said the group could not be associated with criminality, stressing that individuals who falsely claim membership of the OPC while engaging in criminal acts were impersonators who should face the full weight of the law.
“OPC has no association whatsoever with those arrested over the Adelabu family kidnapping. They are not our members. Our members subscribe to not just a physical registration but a spiritual oath that they will invite disaster upon their heads if they indulge in any act of criminality,” Afolabi said.
He added that members understood the consequences of violating the organisation’s code of conduct, particularly when such acts were committed against fellow Yoruba people.
The OPC president said the organisation had, in the past, sanctioned members found guilty of misconduct, including publicly disgracing and expelling individuals who violated its rules.
Afolabi further defended the organisation’s internal discipline, saying the OPC had consistently removed members found to have criminal tendencies since the days of its founder, the late Dr Frederick Fasehun.
“OPC remains one of this country’s most disciplined organisations. Since the days of the Founder, Dr Frederick Fasehun, of blessed memory, members showing criminal tendencies have been shown the way out; and in some cases, they were handed to law-enforcement authorities,” he said.
He alleged that some individuals unable to meet the organisation’s standards of discipline had left to form factions, insisting that such groups were not under the control of the mainstream OPC.
“The main OPC body has neither control over nor association with such misguided and mischievous miscreants. If apprehended, such people should be made to face the full wrath of the law,” he added.
According to him, the swift recovery of the Adelabu family members demonstrated that criminals could no longer operate freely in Yoruba land.
“The speed with which this case was resolved shows that there is no hiding place for criminals in Yoruba land,” Afolabi said.
However, he urged security agencies to extend similar commitment to the rescue of the Ogbomoso pupils and teachers who have remained in captivity since May 15.
Afolabi said the OPC had repeatedly offered its support to governments in the fight against terrorism, banditry, kidnapping and other security threats, adding that the group possessed the manpower and local knowledge required to complement state security efforts.
“We still maintain that we have the numerical capacity, the spiritual resources and the physical acumen to assist the society and the government to fight these raging occurrences of insecurity.
“Although the governments of the South-West have not invited us, we assure them that our offer is still on the table,” he said.
Meanwhile, the organisation announced emergency contact lines through which members of the public can reach its leadership during security emergencies.