PRESS STATEMENT Thursday 27th May 2021
REJOINDER AND DISCLAIMER: Odumakin memorial and the Malicious Antics of Mischievous Self Seekers, Infiltrators, Fraudsters masquerading as Real Accountability Activists
The attention of the Civil Society Organisations and Pro Democracy Movement for the Memorial of Yinka Odumakin has been drawn to the nefarious activities and malicious statements credited to some self seeking Infiltrators masquerading as Civil Society Activists, sponsored to maliciously discredit, undermine and ridicule the achievements and enviable records of the Memorial Initiative by desperately orchestrating a needless accountability agitation aimed at blackmailing distinguished leaders of our Movement for undue relevance.
As the conscience of the country, the leadership of the Civil Society and Pro - Democracy Movement hereby vehemently condemns, disowns and distances itself from the divisive activities of these bunch of pretenders and Infiltrators who are of no significant reputation and scruples. For the avoidance of doubt the major actors behind this indecorous and self seeking calumny are; Declan Ihekaire, who specifically requested for and collected N20, 000 to fuel his personal car to and from Osun State, from us during the Burial because he believed he was too big to join us, the Organisers plus numerous other Comrades inside any of the 4 Air-conditioned Buses donated by the Lagos State (3) and the CDHR, Lagos State (1), and his record of achievement is regular chantting of Aluta songs; Bayo Ogunleye, a factional Chairman of NCP, Lagos State; Gbenga Soloki, self acclaimed Journalist; Roy (Afro Beat) Olukungboye, Musician turned factional Chairman of Lagos State CDHR, who became an adversary because of our inability to meet his request and outrageous fee to a play at the Solidarity Programme in Ile - Ife, Osun State, Tinuade Onaneye, self appointed Erelu Odu'a; Elijah Ajanu - Ojo, who appeared almost nude in a Group picture with her caring Sister on social media few years back and a paid Programme Officer to Dr Joe Okei - Odumakin and their proteges, who have not been noted for any tangible Contributions in the history of the Civil Societies in Nigeria except for making themselves pawns of hatchet jobs for forces of division and disunity within the broad civil society for selfish and percuniary gains.
To put the record straight, the Odumakin Memorial Committee, which was initiated by respectable Leaders of the Progressive Movement and was not the Burial Committee of Yinka Odumakin but an initiative by Leaders and Associates of Yinka Odumakin to immortalise the legacies of the departed Comrade. The funds received and managed by Kudirat Initiative for Democracy, KIND, on behalf of our Memorial Committee were essentially donated for the Memorial Activities of the Progressive Movement and not for the actual Burial Ceremony nor for family support; as funds and donations for the funeral Ceremony and family support were directly received and managed by the Central Burial Committee led by Sen Tokunbo Afikuyomi and the Odumakin Family.
However, at the end of the Burial Ceremony, the Memorial Committee, displaying a sense of responsibility, gave a comprehensive Account of its stewardship as well as its income and Expenditure to the Conveners of the Platform and Associates of Yinka Odumakin, some of whom donated to support the Memorial initiative and there was no single objection or complaint by the Conveners and eminent Leaders, except from these attaches and hangers on, who had tried desperately from the outset to frustrate and discredit the Memorial initiative for sinister and dastardly wemotives as these are the same persons, who had earlier ambushed, mobbed and rough handled the KIND Accountant and two other members of the committee in Moro, Osun State, the home town of Yinka Odumakin, forcing them under duress to share funds raised by the Committee with them.
This type of act, to us, is nothing but crass Thuggery and Rascality disguising to be Activism; as these roughians should have been behind bars now if charges of criminal assault and obtaining by force have been pressed against them by the Accountant and the two other Committee members physically asaulted but rather they could still shamelessly muster the effontery to pose as "Real Accountability" Champions to Innocent and unsuspecting members of public in their ploy to blackmail and cow genuine Leaders of the movement to settle and bribe them as usual.
Nevertheless, in fulfilling all righteousness and for sanity to reign, the Planning Committee was advised by the Elders in the movement to convene a major meeting of the over two hundred Participants on the platform, where further clarifications can be made face to face to all concerned but because these Interlopers do not have any substance beyond their contrived sinister plot, two of their vociferous ring leaders didn't attend and the only one who attended couldn't utter a single word throughout the duration of the meeting so as not to expose their hidden malicious agenda. However, they still continued to rant from one WhatsApp Platform to the other inciting division and disaffection within the movement
Consequently, Barr Femi Falana SAN, assuming these elements are reasonable human beings with genuine concerns or intentions, had to intervene against all odds, to the extent that another investigative meeting was convened, which was moderated by Mr Segun Sowunmi and guided by Barr Femi Falana SAN as decided by the house. It was at this very elaborate meeting, well attended by the Conveners and Leaders of the Platform that the Planning Committee led by Veteran Olawale Okunniyi, Prof Anthony Kila, Hon Janet Adeyemi, Hafsat Abiola Costello, Comrade Agness Funmi Sessi, Comrade Solomon Sobade, Comrade Yinka Olarinmoye, among others was fully absolved of any misappropriation or management of funds as all expenses were noted to be within the approved budget limit and all disbursements of funds by KIND were collectively approved by the Planning Secretariat. Again, all services and items paid for by the Committee were delivered within due time and backed by invoices and receipts, which are still in the custody of KIND till date. It was at this point that these few grousers realised that the game was up and therefore resorted to mudslinging, public odiom and defamation of the integrity of the Leadership of the committee hoping to blackmail the Leadership of the movement for some "settlement" or bribes as usual since they have woefully failed in their various antics to derail, distract, and destabilise the memorial process.
For the benefit of doubt, these are elements, who never contributed a dime to the Memorial Initiative and Process but were hell bent from the outset, as sponsored attaches, to frustrate the process for percuniary gains. They are also neither Conveners nor Initiators but joiners with sinister mindset of coming to share money. So, where is their integrity and locus standi in the affairs of the Memorial initiative. None of them were part of the conceptualisation of the Memorial Initiative and neither did they contribute any significant effort or donated a penny into the designated account of the Memorial initiative managed by Kudirat Initiative for Democracy, KIND.
We therefore wish to alert the unsuspecting general public that these are essentially busy body interlopers and hangers on, who are always at the service of anybody who can pay their bills. Again, since they lack the capacity nor command any iota of respect to initiate or convene such historic Initiative, they have resorted to scavenging and spoilers' games aided by external forces to smear and distract the ongoing intervention of reputable Leaders of the Progressive Movement to rescue Nigeria from imminent State collapse
Finally, the Civil Society and Pro - Democracy Movement hereby wishes to warn these impostors and pretenders to immediately desist from their divisive reactionary orchestration of disaffection within the movement or be ready to face the wrath of the majority and genuine Leaders and Elders of the Civil Society Movement as the N5m earlier cornered and shared by them all, is part of the evidences already compiled with the help of our most experienced Legal Associates against these unrepentant fraudsters masquerading as Real accountability Activists.
To this end, we have already instructed our legal advisers to approach the Law Court immediately to press charges of wilful defamation, Obtaining by Force under duress and Physical Assault against them and their cohorts at large if they continue in their nefarious and malicious ways of unprovoked assault and smear campaign dubbed as resolutions of their dubious accountability gang.
Signed
Comrade AWA Bamiji
For: Civil Society and Pro Democracy Movement Memorial Initiative, 2021
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