Over 150 widows received cash gifts from the Aare Ona Kakanfo of yoruba land, Dr Gani Adams on Wednesday at the 2017 edition of Heroes Day, an annual Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) remembrance programme for members of the group who are late.
Speaking at the event which saw members of the group drawn from across the country in attendance, Dr Gani Adams, who is also the National Coordinator of the OPC said the event , aside from providing the opportunity for the group to reach out to the families of members of the group who are late, is also an opportunity to reach out to the spirit of the late members.
Saluting the courage of the widows for their ability to hold the home front despite the demise of their husbands, Gani said “what we do here today is part of the sacrifices we must do for the progress of the group.”
He said Heroes day was fixed for November 8 because that was the day ” first honest hero of OPC, in the person of Comrade Kola Arowosafe was killed”
He explained that out of the many widows who are benefitting from the scheme, less than 20 of them lost their husbands in the cause of duty for the group adding, that all the widows have been accommodated irrespective of how their husbands died because the group has a duty to take care of wives of its late members.
According to him, about 180 widows were hosted and empowered earlier in the year adding that the Wednesday’s was the second time that such gesture would be extended to the widows by the group this year.
Also making a case for attention to be directed at tradition, Gani said the bane of our society is that the source has been abandoned.
“We cry about corruption, hunger and the like, whereas the antidote to these ills in our society is in our culture which we have abandoned as a result of foreign religion.”
Insisting that the solution to the problem of Nigeria is in its recognition of its traditional potentials, Gani said the time is now for religion balancing for the individual and the nation to realise its full potentials.
Thanking the National Coordinator for his care over the widows and members of the group, Chief Mutairu Adesina , a Zonal coordinator of the group from Lagos state requested that Gani should be encouraged to do more by offering prayers on his behalf constantly so that he can continue to lead the group selflessly.