Otunba Gani Adams is the national coordinator of Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) and global convener of Oodua Progressive Union is also the chief promoter of Olokun Festival Foundation. In this interview by MONICA TAIWO of The Nigerian Tribune, he speaks on OPC’s intervention in Yoruba unity and protection from external aggression, his other projects and foundation, aimed at promoting the Yoruba heritage and other sundry issues.
Gani Adams is synonymous with Oodua Congress, Oodua Union or the Olokun festival and you are always dressed in white. What is the relationship between your dressing and these two?
Well, I have been putting on white since 2004. The only time I can tell you I missed my colour is recently when I went to Europe. I met winter so I had to use a jacket. But since 2004, I have been wearing white.
What is the Olokun Festival about?
We founded Olokun Festival in 2004. We realized that though OPC is a self-determination group, our problems include political problems, disunity and disconnection with what God has given us. We even abuse the things God has given us. So, from that angle, we lose unity and prominence which serves as cracks for the enemy to penetrate. When we realized this, we decided that we have to diversify our struggle. We now decided to form a group called Olokun Festival Foundation for the promotion and sustenance of our culture. It is also to make sure our language does not go into extinction and make sure we can identify with things that God has blessed us with. I am a black man and I am Yoruba. I will be the last person to be intimidated about how God created me; how He gave my language, identity and heritage. The heritage my forefathers sustained themselves with before I was born. If you do not know where you are coming from, you would not know where you are going. We formed the foundation to sustain what God has given us.
Before Christianity came to Nigeria in 1842, our forefathers had festivals. They had the Olokun, Oduduwa and various community festivals too. Muslims came in the 17th or18th century according to a source. Christianity came in 1842. Since the arrival of these religions, we started to downplay these festivities. We have now demonized our cultural contents through different modern religions. Fanaticism has caused us a lot in this society. I think people should be liberal about their religion. Fanaticism in Islam has caused Boko Haram. Some pastors, five minutes into their sermon, they would start throwing shades at our heritage. There are ways we can sell our various religions without demonizing our heritage.
We also set out to repackage our heritage for tourism purposes. Many countries no longer rely on just mineral resources. In a place like South Africa, 30% – 40% of their revenue is derived from tourism. Even in Ghana, 25% of their revenue comes from tourism. All these people, what are they selling? They are selling their heritage. We cannot continue to be associated with things that are foreign to us; things that others are selling to us. We have to sell our own culture to the outside world too. Through tourism, we will project our own image and show them the appreciation of diversity. So, that is the focus of the Olokun Festival.
You’ve had the festival for some time now and a Miss Olokun always emerges. Are there any modalities to mentor these ladies?
When you want to build something for the future, it will not be perfect from the start. The stage we are is to lay a foundation, it is the stage to showcase the foundation and tell the world that a cultural beauty pageant is necessary. Even though they would wear modern clothes at some point, it is usually dominated with the African culture. They will plait their hair in African styles and put beads in their hair, a lot of history is usually taught and there are question and answer sessions. It is not only about beauty, it should be properly combined with brain and confidence. It is also to encourage the undergraduate and postgraduate students and change the orientation of the younger generation that has been brainwashed in the course of their academic activities about our culture and tradition. What we are doing is cultural evangelism. It is to re-orientate the society about our cultural values. Some are deep into religious fanaticism and would say, “If you are not a Christian, you cannot get to the kingdom of God.” Have they travelled out of this country before? Do they know religions like Buddhism and Hindu exists? Asia is a very populous continent and many of them are Buddhists and India has about 1.4 billion people and 75% of them practice Hindu. Are you telling me those many people are going to hell? Religion is a mindset of your background and tradition. So, if you say if one is not a Christian or a Muslim, one would not get to heaven, it means any race that is not Jewish or Arab will not get to heaven. Getting to heaven is about having the right mindset. It is also about your conscience, if you are doing the wrong things, your conscience would prick you. God will judge you with your habit and with your character; not with your religion. You can just have grace through religion but you cannot get to the right kingdom of God through religion. All these things are causing problems in our society.
What is OPC doing to unify, hold Yoruba people together and bridge the gap?
Well, we are trying our best as a body. You know, Rome was not built in a day. A journey of a thousand miles starts with a step. OPC was formed in 1994, just about 23 years ago. Most liberal organizations spend fifty years to even get to where OPC is. We have changed certain mindsets within the Yoruba race. Before, it is not easy for Ijebu and Egba people to get along because of the wars that have happened over time in 16th and 17th centuries. Even Ijesha people had a limited interaction with Ibadan people too. However, OPC has brought people together now. There are now minimized differences between communities. Yorubas now say “we are descendants of Oduduwa.” OPC has achieved that.
Secondly, other tribes often view Yoruba as weak people or people who are only interested in parties. But what OPC did during the events that followed the June 12, 1998 elections changed the way people viewed Yorubas. We are smart and intelligent, we are not weak. We know how to fight our wars without losing or having too many casualties. We fought our wars intellectually and with wisdom. In our history, Yorubas do not fight wars and lose. There is another group: Oodua Progressive Union (OPU) which is in over 77 countries. We just finished our World Congress last month with the Alaafin of Oyo and Oodua Festival with Ooni of Ife. In the process of trying to unite, the political class, capitalists and even journalists will be frustrating you, they will write negative things about you because some of our bigwigs have influence on them and every media house has its own agenda.
A lot of things were written about me when I first started: “he is an illiterate”, “he is too stubborn”, those were the comments then. These were from people who did not have access to me and just passed comments. We thank God today that a lot of things have changed.
How have you been able to disassociate OPC from the perceived notion that members are touts?
In the history of liberation organizations, it has always been like that. At the beginning, it is usually impossible to avoid being painted as a rogue because of the “comrade” nature of such organizations. When you are fighting for a cause, one is usually tagged a thug. You cannot see a bunch of 1000 Yorubas and say all of them are touts or illiterates, let alone over 5 million Yorubas. I am not saying all of them are saints because you can still have bad elements but a group that has stood up for people and stopped various maltreatments deserves some praise. This is a group where people have laid their lives for you. And people use them for security purposes. How can you still call them thugs? It sounds so hypocritical and sentimental because religious people sleep in their houses while “illiterates and thugs” protect them. In my house, there are no thugs. No one has the right to smoke in my house, not even cigarettes let alone Indian hemp. If you want to take alcohol in my compound you have to take it lightly because no one is allowed to misbehave. I am a disciplinarian. I didn’t have a background of hooliganism.