Afenifere: Who’s Yoruba Leader ?

Chief Reuben Fasoranti says he has not relinquished his position as the leader of the pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere.

The nonagenarian Yoruba leader spoke in light of the controversy trailing the endorsement of Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, LP by Ayo Adebanjo, the interim leader of the group.

Adebanjo had hinged his decision to support Obi on fairness and justice to the south east which he said has never produced the president and commander in chief for the country.

Obi is one of the leading presidential candidates for next year’s presidential election apart from Bola Tinubu and Atiku Abubakar of the APC and PDP, respectively.

Fasoranti, had last week, in what looked like a division in the group, endorsed Tinubu for the 2023 presidential election in an elaborate ceremony in Ondo state attended by some top Yoruba leaders and politicians.

But speaking on the endorsement of Obi on Tuesday, Fasoranti said the authority still lies with him as the leader of Afenifere, and that he has not ceded his position to Adebanjo, saying “I’m still the leader of Afenifere.”
he said further that “Afenifere has not endorsed Obi, we are endorsing Jagaban (Bola 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 in Akure. 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 (Tinubu’s) visit. As you can see, Jagaban is accepted and we approve of him. Obi has no stand in our mind at all.”

Adebanjo had earlier claimed that he was now the leader of the group after Fasoranti handed over to him as the interim leader.

In March last year, the 95-year-old Fasoranti said at a meeting held by the members of the group that he was retiring after leading the group for 13 years, adding that he needed to yield the position to a new leader.

He, thereafter, named Adebanjo as the Acting National Leader, while the former Financial Secretary, Oba Oladipo Olaitan, became the new deputy leader.

Speaking after the endorsement of Adebanjo by Fasoranti, the Secretary General of Yoruba Council of Elders, Dr. Kunle Olajide, who was in the meeting said: “It was commendable of the immediate past leader of Afenifere to name Adebanjo, who is also one of the right-hand men of late Chief Obafemi Awolowo as his successor.

“Fasoranti needed someone younger and energetic that can add to the political template of Nigeria. To support Adebanjo, we appointed Chief Olaitan as acting deputy leader.”

Meanwhile, the magazine learned that some APC governors in the south west were the ones that put pressure on Fasoranti to endorse Tinubu.

“The governors’ reason is hinged on the fact that Tinubu is the only Yoruba candidate in the 2023 presidential election, and it will be wrong for us to support another candidate from another region. Posterity will not forgive us if we lose this chance”, a source close to the Governor of Ondo state, Rotimi Akeredolu told the magazine on Wednesday.