This is not the best of times for the pan-Yoruba sociopolitical organisation, Afenifere, as it has broken into two opposing camps that are currently singing discordant tunes.
Afenifere presents itself as the voice of the South-West, the same way that Ohanaeze Ndigbo claims to speak for the South-East, the Arewa Consultative Forum for the North, the Middle Belt Forum for the Middle Belt and the Pan Niger-Delta Forum (PANDEF) for the South-South.
Afenifere was initially seen as a socio-cultural organisation that aimed to promote the cultural heritage of the Yoruba. But this changed in 1998 when the group bankrolled the emergence of a new political party known as the Alliance for Democracy (AD). The party adopted the Afenifere agenda as its manifesto, thus signaling Afenifere transformation to a political organisation.
The coming of Afenifere into politics has been its Albatross, as the leaders have found it very difficult to speak in one voice. Last Tuesday, rising from a meeting of the organisation held at his country home in Isanya-Ogbo, Ogun State, its leader, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, said the candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the February 25, 2023 Presidential Election, Peter Obi, won the election.
In a communique issued at the end of the meeting and signed by Adebanjo and its Secretary, Sola Ebiseni, Afenifere accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of manipulating the results of the election to favour the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Afenifere said the results it obtained through credible sources confirmed that the candidate of the LP, Obi won the presidential poll.
The group, according to the communiqué, also suspended two of its principal officers, Jare Ajayi, the National Publicity Secretary and Abagun Kole Omololu the National Organising Secretary for their “uncouth activities and unauthorized statements in its name and to the constant denigration of the organisation.”
The Communiqué said, “Afenifere reiterates our position that the Presidential election held on the 25th of February 2023 was characterised by all forms of primitive manipulations and non-compliance with the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Electoral Act 2022 and the Guidelines and Regulations made pursuant thereto with concomitant legislative force.
“The results of the lawful votes at the Presidential election available to the Afenifere through credible sources confirm that Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, won the said election and we, thus, support his decision challenging the contrary declaration by the INEC.
“Re-assert that for equity, fairness, national cohesion and peaceful corporate existence, the next President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria shall be person of its southern part and specifically the South-East.
“Condemn in the strongest terms, the campaigns of calumny and acts of ethnic violence deployed by some politicians and their hired criminal gangs in several parts of the federation during the gubernatorial election, particularly in Lagos State where the election was made to appear like an inter-ethnic war between the Yoruba and Igbo which greatly led to voters’ suppression and other forms of deliberate disenfranchisement through brigandage.
“Received a message credited to Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu in a viral video alleging indictment of the Yoruba as political rascals on account of ethnic violence deployed by politicians of the ruling party in Lagos State. On the analysis of the video and information at the disposal of Afenifere by people at the Anambra State gathering, we are convinced that Chief Iwuanyanwu rightly asserted that the Yoruba and Igbo were not at war and truly condemned the shenanigans of some political rascals.
“Flowing from the above, Afenifere states that it never issued any statement and dissociates the organisation from any such statement against Chief Iwuanyanwu.
“Observed the uncouth activities and unauthorised statements in its name and to the constant denigration of the organisation by Jare Ajayi, the National Publicity Secretary and Abagun Kole Omololu the National Organising Secretary.
“After due consideration of the unending embarrassing conduct of the two officers, the meeting resolved that they be and are hereby removed immediately from their respective offices and their membership be suspended sine die pending further decisions after their appearance before and recommendations by the Disciplinary Committee.
“Restate our position that in accordance with the hallowed Yoruba culture of civilised conduct, Afenifere assures all persons resident in Yorubaland, indigenes and non-indegenes, of protection in the conduct of their lawful duties and thus warns all threat mongers and merchants of violence to desist therefrom.
“Express our belief in the judiciary as an integral part of the democratic process and expect that it proves itself in the election litigations now pending before it without fear or favour and in accordance with the judicial oaths of its members, in covenant with the Nigerian people.
“Call on the President and Government of Nigeria to restore the patriotic confidence and hope of the Nigerian people in the continued corporate existence of the federation which will guaranty their safety throughout Nigeria”.
A day later, the former Leader of Afenifere who handed over power to Adebanjo due to old age in 2021, Pa Fasoranti, issued a statement to disassociate the group from the earlier communique issued by Ayo Adebanjo and Sola Ebiseni.
He said he had dissociated the group from a communique purportedly issued, after a meeting that held on Tuesday, March 27, at Isanya Ogbo, Ogun State, because of the content of the said document.
In a release he personally signed, Chief Fasoranti stated that being a law abiding organisation, Afenifere could not have asserted that someone, other than the person declared by the body duly authorised by the constitution and other extant laws of the land, was the winner of the presidential election held on February 25, 2023 in Nigeria.
Fasoranti said the communique had also announced the removal and suspension of two officials of the organisation, Abagun Kole Omololu and Comrade Jare Ajayi, National Organising Secretary and National Publicity Secretary, respectively, “pending further decisions after their appearance before and recommendations by the Disciplinary Committee,” meaning that the duo were pronounced guilty and consequently sanctioned, even before their appearance before a disciplinary committee.
Fasoranti maintained that the organisation was not against the election of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, who he personally blessed and anointed on October 30, 2022 before the whole world.
He said, “How then would we turn round and condemn the election of such a person? We never did so.This type of position is alien to us in Afenifere, which does not conduct itself as an agent of the state, let alone as an electoral umpire. We accept the results of the elections at all levels as declared by INEC until otherwise decided by competent courts in the land.
“Presently, the whole world knows that Nigeria has a President- elect in the person of Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu, a true Yoruba son and nationalist. We in Afenifere not only acknowledge this, we take delight in his in-coming Presidency and are confident that he will, by the grace of God, return Nigeria to the glorious position that all of us will be proud of.
“Tinubu is a focused, highly disciplined person, who is very adept in organisation and in administering people. Based on his antecedent, we have no doubt at all that under his leadership, Nigeria will breathe a new lease of life that will soon make her one of the nations of the world that are respected and admired.
“The whole world is aware that I personally blessed and anointed Ahmed Bola Tinubu on October 30, 2022 in the presence of notable people from all parts of Yorubaland, right here in my place in Akure. How can we then turn round and condemn the election of such a person? We never did so”.
He also declared as null, void and of no effect whatsoever the purported removal and suspension of both Ajayi and Omololu.
“That is not the Afenifere way. A general meeting does not have the power to convene and take such a far-reaching decision just at the whims of individuals. There must have been an official petition laid at the caucus meeting, which is referred to the disciplinary committee that will investigate and give the officers involved the opportunity to plead their cases. Reports and recommendations are then received by the Leaders-in-Council, who then take a decision on the report with the Leader before reverting to the caucus in communication. This fiat approach as seen in the current situation is alien to our organisation and cannot stand,” he said.
The Beginning of the Crisis
When Adebanjo announced to the world, after an Afenifere meeting which held in his country home, that the socio-cultural group had thrown its weight behind the candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, many members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) were flustered.
Some of them spun the yarn of Afenifere’s ‘irrelevance’ and ‘electoral worthlessness’ in the media. They said that the group did not command more than the individual votes of its members.
Adebanjo, who has been very steadfast in reaching out to other ethnic nationalities in the South and the Middle Belt like the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Pan-Niger Delta Forum, (PANDEF) and the Middle Belt Forum, to ensure that everyone has a sense of belonging canvassed that the Nigerian presidency be ceded to the South-East geopolitical zone, which has not had the privilege of producing the President since the return of democracy in 1999.
Surprisingly, Tinubu’s camp in the South-West, which had earlier rubbished the Obi’s endorsement by Afenifere, struck back by holding a well publicised event in Chief Fasoranti’s Akure home, at which the former Afenifere leader prayed for Tinubu’s success in the election.
During the visit, Pa Fasoranti prayed for Tinubu and recalled that the President-elect had visited him before the APC primary election, seeking his blessing, “But I advised him to go and work towards getting his party’s ticket before receiving my blessings and support for his aspiration.”
What attracted controversy was that the invitation to the event was issued by the ‘Conscience of Yoruba Nation,’ not by Afenifere.
Also, most of the dignitaries present were top ranking chieftains of the ruling APC from the South-West, but they were not regular attendees at Afenifere meetings.
Pa Adebanjo and other leaders like the Secretary, Sola Ebiseni, were not at the gathering.
Although they gathered under the auspices of the Conscience of Yoruba Nation, the communiqué released at the end of the event was issued in Afenifere’s name.
So the gathering achieved its objective. It then looked like there were two factions of Afenifere and while Adebanjo’s faction was backing Peter Obi of Labour Party, the Fasoranti’s faction was supporting Tinubu of the APC.
So the seed of discord was sown and the unity within Afenifere could no longer be guaranteed.
As if dousing the tension, Fasoranti caused a press statement to be issued by his Personal Assistant, Adedapo Abiola, saying that Adebanjo remains the leader of Afenifere and that he didn’t say that future meeting of Afenifere should hold in his (Fasoranti) Akure residence.
Despite this assurance from Fasoranti, political analysts and watchers of political developments in the South-West announced the polarisation of Afenifere into two camps, one for Obi and the other for Tinubu.
Their pronouncements came to reality with the event of the last week, which already pitched Adebanjo and Fasoranti in a supremacy battle and with two of them supporting different candidates in the 2023 Presidential election.
AYO ESAN, has been actively reporting and analyzing political events for different newspapers for over 18 years. He has also successfully covered national and state elections in Nigeria since the inception of this democracy in 1999.
