In the last few days, the pan-Yoruba socio-cultural organisation Afenifere, has been thrown into turmoil over the endorsement of the presidential bid of Bola Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) by its former leader Reuben Fashoranti.
The decision has led to division among Yoruba leaders, with some opposing and criticising it while some said it was in order.
There have been conflicting accounts of the real intention of the meeting, with some people not happy with the drama that has emanated from Fashoranti’s backing to Tinubu’s presidential bid.
The octogenarian’s decision to endorse Tinubu is against the earlier position of Afenifere, which had backed the presidential bid of the Labour Party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi.
Ayo Adebanjo, the leader of the Afenifere, had said the group decided to back the presidential bid of Obi, for equity and inclusiveness.
Adebanjo said that the Yoruba, South West, had taken the first turn of the zonal arrangement in 1999, which led to the emergence of President Olusegun Obasanjo.
According to Adebanjo, “The current President is a Fulani from the Northwest and by virtue of the zoning arrangement that has governed Nigeria since 1999, power is supposed to return to the south imminently.
“The south west as I have pointed out has produced a president and currently sits as VP, the South-South has spent a total of 6 years in the presidency, but the Igbo people of the South-East have never tasted presidency in Nigeria, and now that the power is due back in the South, equity demands that it be ceded to the Igbo.
“We cannot continue to demand that the Igbo people remain in Nigeria, while we at the same time continue to brutally marginalise and exclude them from the power dynamic.”
However, Fasoranti, a frontline educationist and Second Republic Finance Commissioner in Ondo State, insisted that Afenifere chieftains only endorsed Tinubu, stressing that Tinubu’s endorsement by respected chieftains of the group in Akure was valid.
In a viral video, the 97-year old Fasoranti insisted that the organisation never endorsed Obi, saying that he is still the leader of Afenifere.
He said: “I am still the leader of Afenifere. Afenifere has not endorsed Obi. We are endorsing Jagaban (Bola Ahmed Tinubu) for the presidency.
“As you can see, the trend, the approval and the acceptability. You could see what happened when Tinubu came to meet me. Media carried the whole thing.
“Adebanjo does not have the capacity to warn me not to welcome Tinubu. Can he do that successfully?
“What happened was that Adebanjo took a stand and I took a stand. I didn’t call him and he didn’t call me. We never spoke about the visit.
“As you can see, Jagaban is accepted and we approve of him. Obi has no stand in our mind at all.”
It will be recalled that in March 2021, Fasoranti stepped down as Afenifere leader, citing old age, he had subsequently named his deputy leader, Ayo Adebanjo, as the acting national leader of the group.
Former financial secretary, Oladipo Olaitan, the Alaago of Kajola Ago in Atakumosa East Council Area, Ilesa, Osun State, was named the group’s deputy leader.
Thus, several people were taken aback over Fasoranti’s comment that he is still the leader of the group.
Fasoranti had said: “The development became necessary as the group needs, more than ever before, to have an improved organisation with a more effective approach to combat the monstrous invasion of our culture and pride as a people.”
However, in a swift response, Adebanjo said that the comments trailing it are an attempt to divide the group.
Speaking while appearing on Channels Television’s Politics Today, Adebanjo, said he would not be part of any move to split Afenifere.
“It is a sort of conspiracy among those who want to see Afenifere divided. They have been on this plan for over a month and my members came to me to alert me about it and I said, don’t talk about it. It would be a diversion. All we want now is an election on issues.”
He said Fasoranti had called to inform him about Tinubu’s planned visit, adding that the former Afenifere leader was initially not open to receiving the APC candidate but he persuaded him to do so.
Adebanjo said: “I will tell you the story and I won’t go further. Pa Fasoranti phoned me on Friday that Tinubu had phoned him and that he wanted to come and see him and he wanted to say no. I said no, don’t do that, you are an elder statesman. If he wanted to see you, why not?”
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In recent days, there have been divergent views on the recent development within the group.
Some Yoruba leaders, who backed Fasoranti’s move in endorsing Tinubu’s presidential bid, said the nonagenarian remains the leader of Afenifere and has a right to take any decision at any time.
They blamed Adebanjo for not consulting Fasoranti and other Yoruba leaders before endorsing Obi.
The romances of Afenifere ahead of the general election by presidential candidates and the controversy it had emanated from it, raises question on how crucial the group’s support would aid candidates ‘victory, particularly for the presidential candidates.
While some observers say the group still has wide influence and appeal among the Yorubas that can influence the outcome of the 2023 general election, others have dismissed the relevance of Afenifere heading to 2023; they say the group has been weakened by the political powers in the region, especially by leaders who are self-serving.
“Afenifere’s endorsement may actually not be so relevant in the 2023 election because the body has been weakened by the political powers in the region that successfully put a spanner in their wheel of unity.
“Afenifere does not really have the kind of followership that it enjoyed prior to the 1999 election. Today, Afenifere is only a shadow of itself and only relevant in words and not indeed,” Tope Musowo, public policy analyst, said.
But Adelaja Adeoye, former national publicity secretary of the Action Democratic Party (ADP), said with reach across all parts of the country, Afenifere endorsement for any candidate is a big plus.
”Afenifere is a socio-Yoruba cultural group spanning across the length and breadth of Nigeria with members and supporters across the world, they have influence that can affect the 2023 election and as we know, all interests and tendencies will affect the outcome of the election. Therefore, their endorsement for any candidate is a big plus.”
Meanwhile, in recent days, some chieftains of the group have knocked Fasoranti and Adebanjo for rushing to endorse Obi and Tinubu.
They said they would have expected the leaders to have learnt lessons from Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) that provided a platform for all the leading presidential candidates to address them and extract commitment from them on Arewa’s interest, without endorsing any of the candidates.
A chieftain of Afenifere, Akinyemi Onigbinde Sunday, said those present at the Akure ‘blessing’ of the Tinubu, are mainly people whose ties with Afenifere is so distant.
According to him, “looking through the list of those present at the Akure ‘blessing’ of the presidential bid of Bola Tinubu, they are majorly people whose ties with Afenifere are so distant, as to be non-existent. Many of them, supposed Afenifere members, have not been at any of Afenifere monthly general meetings in the last two years.
“They are at best functional APC members, who should be in the company of their party candidate to seek support from anyone that may be willing to give it. Yet, one or two who definitely went to Akure to honour Pa Reuben Fasoranti’s invitation, out of respect for the old man.”
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