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...he represented all there is in freedom for all.

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refrain from equating him to Fela

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Ofcourse a qualified medical doctor should not and cannot be equated to a mere musician and holder of diploma in music.
Let us disregard for a moment the fact that Fela had destroyed most of his brain cells by the excessive use of Tetrahydrocannabinol.

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Mozart and Marley where great musicians. However what are their achievements for humanity as compared to the likes of Dr. Louis Pasteur, Dr. Edward Jenning, Dr.sigmund Freud?
My point is that Beko and Fela could very well be equated. While Fela may have been the greater activist, surely Beko was the greater intellectual and academician.
But I respect your opinion that they could not be equated. If you feel that Fela was the greater man, then thats your opinion which you have a right to just as I have a right to mine.
The opinions of the Ochiwar´s and Chiboy´s are not going to diminish from the greatness of these two late Yoruba sons.

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Please let the first person that could show the doctor to be hateful of the Igbo or any other tribe stand up. ---MeBiafran

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In mid July 2000, a private dispute between a landlord and a tenant escalated out of control and several people were killed in the large Alaba electronics market in Lagos, as OPC members clashed with Igbo traders. The incident began when a Yoruba landlord, who had lost patience with a court case to resolve a dispute with his tenant, called in the OPC to deal with the problem instead. The tenant, an Igbo trader called Ike who dealt in electronic goods in Alaba market, returned from work one day to find his landlord and a group of OPC members waiting for him. On instruction from the landlord who pointed him out to the OPC, the OPC members attacked him, accusing him of being a criminal. Despite his denials, they beat him into a coma, allegedly in the presence of the landlord who did not respond to his pleas for help, even when the OPC set him on fire; he later died from his injuries.41

Some of the victim's neighbors, wanting to avenge Ike's death, set fire to the landlord's building. The market traders, the majority of whom are Igbo, also mobilized to protest the death of their colleague. According to one of the traders' representatives, when they went to complain to the Baale [local Yoruba leader], OPC members were assembled there and attacked them. Several traders were injured. The traders ran back to the market and tension escalated. The OPC members apparently sought reinforcements and within a short time had invaded parts of the market. They smashed many of the buses owned by the Igbos and barricaded the roads. The traders decided to fight back after they discovered the body of another Igbo man who had been macheted to death by the OPC at a nearby petrol station; he was apparently found dead, clutching a Bible. As the traders tried to defend themselves, and some of them took up arms, the OPC extended the attack to other Igbo residents in the area. The police, who were called to the scene by the chairman of the electronics market association, were initially unable to stop the violence and had to send for reinforcements. Eventually, the paramilitary mobile police brought the situation under control.

The fighting in Alaba market lasted for at least two days. Trading was suspended, although the police advised against closing the market completely to avoid a further escalation. One trader, who was present at the height of the violence, described it as "a big fight. The traders were at the Alaba end of the road while the OPC were at the Ajamgbadi end. The battle was fought at Sabo Onigba between St Patrick and Chemist bus stop. [...] I was watching from a safe distance. When the battle became so fierce, we hid in the shops because it was unsafe to venture out. Some traders were killed outside the market and their bodies dumped in the canal. [...] In the night, the OPC went from house to house searching for Igbos. Some were killed while others sustained serious injuries at the hands of the OPC."

The participation of the OPC was confirmed by several eye-witnesses. One trader told Human Rights Watch that they were wearing OPC vests and carrying charms, and saw a truck full of OPC members. Another said: "I knew it was OPC members that fought with the traders. They were wearing their white vests and white handkerchieves." Other Yoruba youths, who may not have been OPC members, also became involved in the fighting; some of them were armed with knives, stones, and sticks.

It has been difficult to confirm the exact number of deaths in Alaba market. Several traders told Human Rights Watch that they knew of at least four Igbo traders who had been killed in just one part of the market and several others injured. It is likely that there were other victims in other parts of the market. A number of Yoruba were also killed when the Igbos retaliated. One trader mentioned that at least four Yoruba were killed, including the local OPC leader: "When I saw how the OPC leader was killed and burnt, I became scared. I decided to rush home. I ran into a roadblock mounted by OPC members. They asked us to raise our hands, they searched us and found nothing and passed us on. That same day, about four Igbo traders were killed in a house at Ajamgbadi."

There was also a clash between the OPC and the mobile police who were called after the civilian police had been unable to restore order. The mobile police commander who led the operation confirmed to Human Rights Watch that both the OPC and some of the Alaba community were armed. He said that as he and his colleagues were talking to the OPC to try to calm the situation down, three OPC buses arrived and opened fire on them. He and a police inspector were both injured.

Some local residents and traders believe that the incident between the landlord and the tenant was just the trigger for the expression of a deeper, underlying tension in the area, particularly feelings of jealousy between the local Yoruba community and the predominantly Igbo traders in Alaba. In addition, according to a local resident, the day before the tenant, Ike, was killed, the OPC had killed five other Igbo men. Apparently they too had been killed because they owed rent to their landlord, who had called the OPC in to deal with them. The man who related the incident to Human Rights Watch did not see them being killed, but saw the dead bodies of four of them, three in a compound and a fourth in the gutter; they had apparently died from gunshot wounds. He also saw around thirty OPC members patrolling the area, in two buses; they were easily recognizable by the red bands they wore on their heads and their black T-shirts.

Whatever the real cause of the violence in Alaba, one of its direct effects was to increase ethnic polarization in the area. A market traders' representative told Human Rights Watch: "It was after this crisis that we initiated another association, the Alaba United Traders' Association, for the Igbo traders alone. The former association had comprised every trader in Alaba, irrespective of tribal affiliation. [...] It was a good thing that peace was restored because at a time, we were thinking of acquiring arms and even declaring the Alaba area a Biafran territory."

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In November, in response to threats and an ultimatum issued by Ijaws against Yorubas, the Delta State Government increased security in Warri (Post Express 8 Nov. 1999). At the same time, the Bayelsa State Governor accused "militant members" of the OPC of engaging in "genocide against the Ijaws" (Post Express 9 Nov. 1999).

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Leaders

In addition to Frederick Fasehun and Ganiyu Adams, the following is a list of officials and founding members of the OPC as reported:

Beko Ransome-Kuti, Treasurer (AFP 4 Feb. 2000b). The Guardian described him as a "chieftain of Dr. Faseun's faction" (8 Jan. 2000b);

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In a February 2000 report on the possibility of the break-up of Nigeria the Mail and Guardian writes:

At the heart of the south-west's burgeoning ethnic nationalism is the Oodua People's Congress (OPC), a Yoruba separatist movement founded six years ago to oppose military rule. It is blamed for much of the killings of hundreds of Hausas and eastern Igbos in and around Lagos in recent months, provoking retaliatory massacres of Yorubas in other parts of Nigeria.

One of its leaders, Gani Adams is a folk hero after eluding capture even though the police put a price on his head for leading ethnic killings.

The OPC has some prominent supporters. Its treasurer is Beko Ransome-Kuti, a former political prisoner of the military whose late brother, Fela Kuti, was Nigeria's most famous and politicised singer. "This concept called Nigeria is of very doubtful viability," said Ransome-Kuti.

"There is nothing you can call one Nigeria and the earlier we appreciate that the better or we'll end up in dire straits ... Everything revolves around the ethnic factor. The north wants to control everything. The OPC is here to make sure the south-west, or the Yorubas, are emancipated from northern oppression." ...

Ransome-Kuti says the OPC favours a return to the handful of largely self-governing regions that existed when the army first seized power in 1966. If it cannot win agreement on devolution, he says the organisation will declare independence. ...

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