By Dayo Johnson, Akure

No doubt, the pan-Yoruba socio political group, Afenifere, is in disarray over the choice between the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, and his Labour Party (LP), counterpart, Mr Peter Obi, ahead of the 2023 general elections.

The disagreement in the group’s preferred choice for the coveted seat, come 2023, came into light when Afenifere’s two topmost leaders, Chief Ayo Adebanjo and Chief Reuben Fasoranti, openly clashed last week.

But, a deeper look at the development showed that the disagreement was not really between the two elders but between two tendencies within the organisation.

Adebanjo is Afenifere Acting National Leader while Fasoranti, his predecessor, is Emeritus Leader.

Fasoranti had announced Adebanjo as Acting Leader last year on account of old age. Before then, Adebanjo was Deputy Leader.

Counter coup

A reliable source hinted Sunday Vanguard at the weekend that the last Sunday visit to Fasoranti by Tinubu was designed 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.

“It (visit) was designed to rubbish the decision of Chief Adebanjo to single handedly endorse Peter Obi without recourse to other leaders of the group including Pa Fasoranti”, he said.

“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 essence of the meeting, according to the invite sighted by Sunday Vanguard, was “to discuss the historic 2023 general elections and guide the Yoruba people of Nigeria to take a definite and wise decision in the overall interest of posterity and also an interaction with one of the leading candidates, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.”

The invite was signed by the Director General of COYN, Abagun Kole Omololu, and Mr Dare Babarinsa. Omololu is the National Organising Secretary of Afenifere while Babarinsa is also a top member of the group.

The meeting was attended by Yoruba leaders from Oyo, Ogun, Ondo, Ekiti, Osun, Lagos, Kogi and Kwara states.

Twist

But in a twist, the aspiration of Tinubu to contest for the presidency topped the meeting agenda.

Tinubu’s media handler also played a fast one by churning out a statement 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.

The endorsement, however, 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, said that many leaders of Afenifere were not consulted by the Acting National Leader and blamed him for running the group as his personal estate.

“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”, the infuriated source said.

“He single-handed appointed the General Secretary of the group and others without recourse to the larger house.

“While 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 organisation. Of course, they would soon resolve it. To disagree is normal and natural”.

https://www.vanguardngr.com/2022/11/tinubu-inside-the-afenifere-meeting-that-moved-against-peter-obi/

Believe me when I tell you that Yoruba nation have not known peace ever since Afenifere endorsed Peter Obi


It's a rude shock to them all

But then again, who God bless, NO ONE curse!