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In his recent interview with Bridge Media, whose founder and owner is said to an ethnic Oromo Nationalist, AbaDula Gemeda narrates the creation of the ancestor of the Prosperity Party and his seven years of captivity in Eritrea – among many other issues. He, along with a few others, including General Bacha Debele (currently Ethiopia’s Ambassador to Kenya), crafted the Oromo People’s Democratic Organization (OPDO). Gemeda refutes claims that the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) created OPDO.
OPDO is arguably the political ancestor of the present Prosperity Party. AbaDula Gemeda, initially a military general in the Ethiopian Defense Force after the TPLF took power in 1991 and serving as the president of the Oromia region, shares the story of how the party he formed recruited young cadres like the current Prime Minister and mentored them. Adanech Abiebie, whom Abiy Ahmed appointed as Addis Ababa’s Mayor, was also among the cadres that OPDO recruited.
He said , “We used to say that OPDO is a party of Tomorrow,” countering criticisms suggesting OPDO’s lack of political relevance during the TPLF’s dominance at the Federal level.
He also discussed how he armed individuals desiring to join the Oromo Liberation Army (OLF) and facilitated their departure from the group. Throughout the conversation, Aba Dula spoke from an ethnic Oromo Nationalist perspective rather than an Ethiopianist one, even referring to Addis Ababa as ‘finefine’ at one point.
Watch his three parts interview below :
Part I
Part II
Part III
Video : embedded from Bridge Media YouTube channel
Cover photo : screenshot from the video
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The post AbaDula Gemeda highlights on the origin of the political ancestor of Prosperity Party, His Seven Years of Captivity in Eritrea appeared first on Borkena Ethiopian News.