Bisi Akande, a former governor of Osun State and the chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), said Bola Ige, a second republic governor of Oyo State and minister of justice under Obasanjo administration, create Afenifere, the foremost Yoruba sociocultural group, and that the association has died with his demise.
Akande made these remarks in a recent interview with Edmund Obilo, admitting that the assassination of Ige in 2002 saw the death of the influential Yoruba group.
The former interim chairman of the APC detailed how the Afenifere was formed at Bola Ige’s residence in 1992, replacing the Egbe Omo Odua, which was banned alongside the Action Group by the military government in 1966. He noted that Afenifere, which started as a political movement, was an idea of the late Bola Ige.
Despite initial rejection by some stakeholders, Afenifere became popular with the ambition of MKO Abiola, who was believed to have won the 1993 presidential election, Akande said.
He added that Afenifere gave birth to NADECO during the persecution of Abiola.
The ex-Osun governor revealed that some of Ige’s colleagues, like Ayo Adebanjo, Olaniwun Ajayi, were never happy that Afenifere was his idea and decided to work against him.
According to him, Ige nominated Abraham Adesanya as the leader of Afenifere following the death of Adekunle Ajasin.
Akande also revealed how Adebanjo and Ajayi worked against Bola Ige’s presidential ambition, leading to the emergence of Olu Falae and the candidate of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) in 1999. Falae was defeated in the general election by Olusegun Obasanjo, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
“That was the beginning of the crack ( in Afenifere) but the end came with the death of Bola Ige. The death of Bola Ige was the death of Afenifere. He found it and he took it away,” he said.
When the interviewer said “but Afenifere is not dead.” Akande said, “I don’t know but it is not the Afenifere we formed.”
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