The O’odua Peoples Congress (OPC) has said that the former Chief of Army staff and Minister of Interior, Lt. Gen. Abdurahman Dambazau, is suffering from acute dementia and gradually losing touch with realities of the moment.

Its Publicity Secretary, Yinka Oguntimehin, said the statement by Dambazau that the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and OPC shared similarities with the insurgent Boko Haram.

He added that both OPC and IPOB were making attempts to plunge the nation into ethnic war as the dreaded Boko Haram, was capable of heating up the polity and disrupting national peace.

Oguntimehin said that Dambazau as a northern irredentist and extremist popularly noted for his unguarded statements and utterances.

He said: “Dambazau’s statement that OPC and IPOB are very much the same as the dreaded Boko Haram was made in bad faith and such statements have raised some fundamental questions about his intentions, interests and morality as a former COAS and minister of Interior… Such high profile ex-military officer cannot be trusted in the fight against insurgency.

“So for such a person to have said that OPC is the same as Boko Haram is not only derogatory, but it is most unfortunate to say the least.”

Dambazau advocates new strategy in counter-insurgency, other security operations

“Boko Haram is adjudged globally as the third most dreaded terrorist groups in the world. And up till today, it remains as such with various cases of killings across the North.

“OPC has never involved in any act of insurgency, including kidnapping or killings. Our group has been at the vanguard of supporting the police and providing information that can help the police in ensuring effective security at the grassroots,” he said.