Otunba Rasak Arogundade Balogun is the National and Worldwide President of the Odua Peoples Congress (New Era), which is making waves in the South-West. The group, in the last two years, with membership and offices all over the South-West and the diaspora, has been in stiff competition with the OPC led by Gani Adams.
The leader of the group, Arogundade, in an exclusive interview with Business Hallmark’s Olusesan Laoye in Ibadan during the 2026 Osemeji Festival of the Ibadan indigenes, spoke on how to tackle insecurity in Nigeria, leadership problems, various reforms of President Ahmed Bola Tinubu, corruption, and the political situation in Nigeria as it affects Nigerians.
Excerpts:
What are your views about the insecurity problems facing Nigeria? What role do you think OPC and other local security organisations could play to help the Nigerian government?
I must confess to you that all the local security outfits are doing their best in Nigeria, but the problem they have is that their operations are limited because they can’t do anything above the law or anything that would make them clash with the real security operatives saddled with that responsibility.
Another reason they are cautious in the way they operate is that, on several occasions, security operatives, especially the police, have challenged them for interfering with their jobs. Whereas, if they are given full backing by the government, they have a vital role to play.
On several occasions too, they have succeeded in bursting the networks and hideouts of bandits through their local intelligence, but in the end, their members were arrested and detained. The issue of Iskilu, the Fulani man terrorising the people of Igangan, who was nabbed with the help of OPC members, and the way those who went for the operation were treated, locked up, with nothing heard about Iskilu up till now, is still fresh in our memory.
The local security organisations are ready to work and cooperate with the government to complement the efforts of the conventional security operatives to curtail the activities of bandits and other criminals troubling the country.
With what you said, that if the government can back local security organisations, policing the country would be better than what it is now, are you in support of state police?
Yes. We have been calling for this for a long time. There was also a time this agitation was all over the place. Even the Federal Government and the state governments appeared to have backed the agitation, following which the South-West introduced Amotekun during the era of late President Muhammadu Buhari.
Otunba Rasak Arogundade Balogun
Even this issue came up at the inception of President Bola Tinubu’s government, in which especially Northern governors were vocal about it.
That was when everybody in Nigeria thought that the Tinubu administration would immediately set it up, but up till now nothing has been heard about it. State police is long overdue in Nigeria.
In fact, the efforts the local security organisations are making presently could be likened to what state police are supposed to do. If state police is approved, these organisations could be transformed into state police since they already have the structures and personnel.
All the government needs to do is to scrutinise the members. Those who have the qualifications to be in the state police should be conscripted instantly into the system, while others could be used as security guards in other areas that need to be manned for security reasons. This will help in no small way in properly securing the country.
Do you support the intervention of the USA in helping to fight terrorism in Nigeria?
It is a good development, and I am sure when U.S. forces are fully on the ground with good logistics and sophisticated machinery, there will be a limit to the operations of bandits.
This is the more reason why local security outfits like the OPC, vigilante groups, Agbekoya, Hunters Association and others across Nigeria are needed to assist in fishing out bandits who may have run from the thick forests where they operate to suburban and inland areas.
What is your assessment of the present government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu?
Well, from my own point of view, I think President Tinubu is trying his best, especially with all the reforms he has been carrying out. His reforms are helping Nigeria cut down excesses and wastages in governance.
The reforms have even helped to increase revenues in all sectors of the economy in Nigeria. For instance, more money is coming in through customs operations, our ports, taxes and even the removal of fuel subsidies.
We should also look at the area of local government autonomy. If not for some governors who do not want it to work because of what they are gaining from it, the autonomy by now would have been very effective. I think these are some of the areas he would tackle properly if he wins a second term.
Many Nigerians still believe that President Tinubu is not on the right path considering the suffering of the people. What do you think about this?
Let us be sincere with ourselves. I have never met Tinubu in my life, and I don’t have any affiliation or contact with him. But from what I can see as a citizen of Nigeria, his reforms are on the right path to get Nigeria out of the woods economically.
Otunba Rasak Arogundade Balogun
If you look at the situation now, it is better than two years ago when prices of items, especially food and other essentials, went up when he started his reforms. But now things are different. Prices of food items have come down, and I believe that with time Nigeria will be a better place, and Nigerians will be pleased as the positive impacts of his policies become more evident.
Do you have other areas which you think the government of Tinubu should focus on to help the development of Nigeria?
There are many areas where I want the government to intensify efforts, especially agriculture, to boost food production and the production of agro-allied raw materials to adequately supply agro-based industries.
It is sad that some of the raw materials we ought to be producing in Nigeria are still being imported. Look at the textile industry, for example, which used to boom in the past. Now, about eighty percent of textile factories in Nigeria have closed due to lack of raw materials. This shouldn’t have been our problem with the vast expanse of land available to grow cotton and other materials.
If the government had been encouraging the cultivation of cotton in areas where it grows well, that industry by now would have been one of the fastest-growing sectors in Nigeria, providing mass employment for youths.
Again, look at industries that use leather. With the potential for leather production in Nigeria, we still import leather of lower quality from China and other countries due to our own laziness.
Another area I want the government to look into is housing. This is worrisome. Nigerians are not living in good houses, and those that are good are not within the reach of average Nigerians, who are referred to as the middle class, not to talk of low-income earners.
Many Nigerians are living in slums, and this should be a major concern for state governors who are not paying attention to it. Instead, they are encouraging estate developers to acquire large expanses of land to build mansions for the rich.
I think there should be a national housing policy to cater to low-income earners, just as it was done during the era of late President Usman Aliyu Shehu Shagari when low-cost housing estates were built across the country. It is sad that subsequent governments, rather than building on that structure and policy, left those houses to rot away, while many were taken over by the rich.
Honestly, one must give kudos to those who governed in the First and Second Republics who focused on the masses. Look at all the Jakande Estates built across Lagos State by the Second Republic governor of the state, Alhaji Lateef Jakande. Those houses are still standing today. Unfortunately, the rich have cornered many of them and are collecting exorbitant rents.
Do you also think that Nigerians are in these problems because of bad leadership?
As a matter of fact, I will say many leaders in Nigeria are wicked, selfish, and do not care about the masses. They are only after what will benefit them and their families.
Look at the issue of banditry. It is now glaring that powerful Nigerians from the North are behind it. Look at the role Sheikh Abubakar Gumi is playing in that respect. Who would have thought that Sokoto, the seat of the Sultan, would become a recruitment centre for ISIS and bandits?
Also, look at the rate at which people who served in government are being arrested and investigated by the EFCC for fraudulent behaviour while in office.
Otunba Rasak Arogundade Balogun
With all these, I think the best way out is a total overhaul of the way we operate in Nigeria, which will allow accountability, probity and efficiency that will curtail fraudulent activities in government.
Again, I think Nigeria should go for restructuring. President Tinubu should use the opportunity at hand now to restructure Nigeria. If this is done, it will eliminate the stealing of our commonwealth and eradicate the notion held by some people that they are born to rule.
If the restructuring of Nigeria, which is long overdue, is carried out by President Tinubu, Nigeria will never forget him as a leader who meant well and was bold enough to carry out what many people over the years believed was impossible.
What we have been clamouring for is regional integration and true federalism that will allow the zones, as presently constituted, to develop according to their abilities and resources, which will be managed by them.
What is your take on the new electoral law, the coming general election, and the fear that Nigeria is moving toward a one-party state?
It is good that President Tinubu did not waste time signing it. My advice to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), politicians and Nigerians is to play the game according to the rules, without any discrepancies that could lead to violence.
We must conduct ourselves peacefully. Losers should accept the results in good faith, and winners should avoid the attitude of “winner takes all.”
On the part of the electorate, they should ensure they vote for candidates of their choice with conscience and not allow themselves to be bought by the highest bidder.
Although we in OPC New Era are not partisan, I will personally want Tinubu for a second term so that he will be able to continue all his reforms, which could eventually lead Nigeria to true federalism.
On the fear that President Tinubu wants to turn Nigeria into a one-party state, I think those saying this do not understand Nigeria’s political history and the attitude of Nigerians toward politics.
There is no way any President or leader can turn Nigeria into a one-party state. This cannot be possible, even looking back at Nigeria’s political history. Nigeria has always been a multiparty state.
I think it is even better now that all parties have a national outlook, unlike in the First Republic and the pre-independence era when we had regional and ethnic political parties where a single party dominated a particular area and produced all elected officers, from council chairmen and councillors to members of the House of Representatives.
To me, any attempt by anybody to turn Nigeria into a one-party state would fail.