The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has turn the pan-Yoruba group, Afenifere, apart after his visit at the weekend to a factional leader of the group, Pa Rueben Fasoranti, in Akure, Ondo State.
Fasoranti had during the visit endorsed Tinubu for the 2023 presidential election.
Tinubu’s visit subsequently generated conflict over the leadership of the Afenifere, which has set Fasoranti on war path with another Afenifere leader, Pa Ayo Adebanjo.
After years of leadership shift in which Adebanjo was said to be the acting leader of the Afenifere, while Fasoranti was said to have retired, Fasoranti after Tinubu’s visit at the weekend, turned to reclaim the leadership of the Afenifere, which currently operates in tow factions.
Before Tinubu’s visit, however, Adebanjo and Fasoranti had been on divisive line over two presidential candidates. While Adebanjo and his faction declared support Peter obi of the Labour Party (LP), Fasoranti and his faction declared support for Tinubu of the APC. The visit subsequently deepens the pre-existing division in the Afenifere.
Fasoranti reasserting his leadership of Afenifere had declared: “I didn’t resign or retire from leadership. I was misunderstood. I think the best thing is to correct that.” He insisted that he is still the leader of Afenifere, reiterating his power to endorse Tinubu.
Fasoranti further asserted: “As you can see, the trend, the approval, and the acceptability. You could see what happened when Tinubu came to meet me in Akure.
“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 saw… it goes without saying that Jagaban was accepted. Obi has no stand in our mind at all.”
Adebanjo, however, considered any other Afenifere faction a rebel group, saying that the position of the Afenifere has been made clear, and he would not go into controversy over any external decision.
Adebanjo was cited to have stated: “In the first place, I was not supposed to be there. In the second place, we have made our position clear.
“Pa Fasoranti asked me if I was coming, I said if he asked me to come, but (I asked him to) tell him (Tinubu) what the position of Afenifere is. Once he has done that, I’m not going into any controversy about that.
“Afenifere has taken a stance to support Obi. Any other splinter or rebel group…I’m not going into any controversy about that. I regard that as a diversion. What we are going to do now is see that we succeed at the election.”
Adebanjo has over time been considered to be the acting leader of Afenifere; and he had stated that Fasoranti lacks the power to remove him, adding that Fasoranti has become an ordinary member of the Afenifere.
Adebanjo was cited to have declared: “He has no right, constitutionally or otherwise, to do so. He’s functus officio (no longer in office.) He has resigned and is just an ordinary member of the party.
“Once he has handed over to me, I am the de facto leader of Afenifere. I won’t make it a controversy at all. Let him test his position wherever.
“Where does he derive his authority? Is Afenifere a monarchy? It’s a pity that in his old age, he’s being led astray.
“Have you heard of somebody who is out of a process now saying he’s coming back again? It’s a pity he’s making himself a laughingstock.”
Meanwhile, the National Organising Secretary of the factional Afenifere led by Fasoranti, Abagun Kole Omololu, in a statement indicated that a Tinubu presidency would “usher in a new era of hope, peace, security, harmony, gainful employment for the multitude, economic development, social and political stability.”
He maintained: Tinubu “shared with us his vision of a greater and more prosperous Nigeria where democratic rights, rule of law, justice and fairness will reign supreme. He also gave an assurance on steps to be taken to ensure the safety and security of Nigerians and their properties.”
Fasoranti emphasized the need to return the meeting of Afenifere to his residence in Akure. He said that the reason for shifting the Afenifere meeting from his home triggered misunderstanding and misinterpretation of the leadership.
According to Fasoranti, “…The reason the meeting was shifted from here was a misunderstanding, misinterpretation and misconception of some people that I was going senile and that I couldn’t comprehend. So, when I heard that, I reacted and the person who said that regretted saying so. So, no problem.”
He expected the Afenifere meetings to be returned to Akure, noting, this would happen “as soon as the secretary and I put our heads together and the leaders too.”