The decision to endorse the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, and that of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, has reportedly split pan-Yoruba sociopolitical organization, Afenifere, between Pa Ayo Adebanjo and Pa Reuben Fasoranti.
Adebanjo, who is Afenifere’s Acting National Leader, and Fasoranti Emeritus Leader, had openly clashed last week over the endorsement of Tinubu and Obi.
The cold war between the camp of the two leaders exploded after Tinubu was endorsed by Fasoranti and other Yoruba leaders in Ondo State last week.
Counter-Coup Against Adebanjo
However, the disagreement was reportedly not between the two leaders but between two tendencies within the organization.
A source told Vanguard that Tinubu’s visit to the Afenifere Emeritus Leader’s residence was orchestrated by his allies to rubbish the earlier endorsement of Peter Obi believed to have been solely done by Adebanjo.
According to the source, the visit was well hatched and successfully executed by Tinubu’s loyalists who are members of the APC within Afenifere to rubbish the decision of Chief Adebanjo to “single-handedly endorse Peter Obi without recourse to other leaders of the group including Pa Fasoranti.
“Do you know that the Akure meeting was actually a counter-coup? The meeting was not convened at the instance of the Afenifere leadership but by another Yoruba group known as Conscience of the Yoruba Nation (COYN) which comprises politicians with sympathy for the ruling All Progressives Congress and prominent Yoruba leaders.”
The Ondo meeting was attended by Yoruba leaders from Oyo, Ogun, Ondo, Ekiti, Osun, Lagos, Kogi, and Kwara states.
Tinubu’s Action Plan
Recall that Tinubu’s media handlers had released a statement claiming that he was visiting the Afenifere leader to present his ‘Action Plan’ on how he intended to tackle the economic and other problems the country is grappling with.
But his endorsement took the better part of the meeting as the presentation of the ‘Action Plan’ was merely a formality performed at the end of the parley.
A source privy to the entire plan to hit back at Adebanjo’s endorsement of Peter Obi told Vanguard that many leaders of Afenifere were not consulted by the Acting National Leader and blamed him for running the group as his personal estate.
The source said: “Baba Adebanjo started showing that he was power drunk after Pa Fasoranti stepped aside and appointed him as the group’s Acting Leader because of old age.
“He single-handedly appointed the General Secretary of the group and others without recourse to the larger house.
“While the majority of the leaders preferred a former Education Commissioner in Ondo State, Chief Korede Duyile, as the new General Secretary after Basorun Arogbofa resigned, Chief Adebanjo, picked another Ondo former Commissioner, Chief Olusola Ebiseni.
“Many of us decided to stay aloof and were even not happy that the group’s meeting was shifted from Akure, the country home of Pa Fasoranti, to Ogbo- ljebu, Ogun State.
“While this internal squabble was going on, the endorsement of Peter Obi, without recourse to other leaders, blew open the crisis within the group.
“The mistake made by Pa Adebanjo in endorsing Mr. Peter Obi on behalf of Afenifere is that he didn’t take cognizance of the fact that most leaders of the organization are pro-APC.
“The ACN that joined others to form APC came from AC, AD, SDP, UPN, and ultimately the Action Group floated by Afenifere.
“These parties are the political arms of Afenifere. That’s why it’s an aberration for him to go all out to endorse a candidate outside this historic tendency that became known as ‘the Progressives’. The issue is a historical one and has nothing to do with playing ethnic politics.
“Both Pa Fasoranti and Pa Adebanjo were foundation members of Afenifere and the defunct Action Group. Since those days, neither of them has departed from that path, the path of ‘the Progressives’.
“Nothing says that old people cannot disagree. The disagreement is not really between the two elders but between two tendencies within the organization. Of course, they would soon resolve it. To disagree is normal and natural.”
Fraudulent Meeting
Angered by Tinubu’s endorsement, some leaders of Afenifere described the use of the group’s name for a meeting not convened by it as fraudulent.
According to the leaders, the meeting was fraudulent because the conveners of the meeting were not executive members of the group.
“Why did they exclude notable leaders of the group? Even if they had left out Chief Adebanjo, others were intentionally not informed because they knew that what they were doing was not right,” a source said.
“It was a hatchet job done in conjunction with APC loyalists within and outside Afenifere to rubbish Adebanjo.”
But one of the Yoruba leaders who support Adebanjo’s endorsement of Peter Obi, who spoke with Sunday Vanguard in confidence, said, “The EXCO, Caucus and General Meetings are held in Adebanjo’s residences at Ìjebú-Ode and Lekki, Lagos.
“No meeting of the Afenifere has been held at Fasoranti’s house since Adebanjo took over. Fasoranti, who was made the Leader of Afenifere in November 2008, stepped down for Adebanjo in 2021.
“No one should, therefore, talk of any other leadership, let alone that of a retired Leader.
“So there’s nothing new in this mere show of political antics and worthless shenanigan.
“Tinubu supporters were quick to broadcast Chief Ayo Adebanjo and other Afenifere leaders’ visit to Tinubu upon his return to the country after his medical procedures earlier this year.
“Chief Adebanjo was acknowledged as the Leader of Afenifere then by these same persons. They didn’t remember retired Leader Fasoranti at that time. Fasoranti is a former Leader of Afenifere.
“As a private elder citizen, he is at liberty to pray for candidates who go to his home. It is consistent with Yoruba culture.
“All the other participants at the gathering at Fasoranti’s home are either retired Yoruba Elders, APC stalwarts, or mere visitors. No active Afenifere leaders were present.
“The Acting Leader of Afenifere, Adebanjo, was not there; the Secretary-General, Sola Ebiseni, was not also there, executive members of the group were not there.
“To the best of our knowledge, those who attended that meeting are estranged members of Afenifere.
“Yes, Fasoranti is a leader but he has since relinquished that leadership position to Adebanjo.
“What Tinubu did to Baba Fasoranti was a mere courtesy visit as a leader of the Yoruba race and other candidates will still visit him and he will still bless them”.
