•Group’s future uncertain —Mogaji Adejumo
By Dapo Akinrefon
Tongues across the country are wagging over a possible leadership crisis within the once formidable pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, especially with the demise of its leader, Pa Reuben Fasoranti.
Fasoranti died on Tuesday at the age of 100 years.
Before his death, the Yoruba group had been engulfed in leadership crisis.
It is instructive to note that Afenifere hinges on a traditional, non-competitive succession process to choose its next leader.
However, the body faces the critical task of unifying its historically fractured factions.
While the old guards like Chief Olu Falae express hope that a new leader will emerge seamlessly through ancestral custom, key insiders paint a much bleaker picture of the group’s future.
How division set in
In 2023, its then Acting Leader, late Pa Ayo Adebanjo, rocked the boat by suspending two of its officials, the National Publicity Secretary, Jare Ajayi and National Organising Committee, Abagun Kole Omololu.
The suspension, however, led to a split and worsened the crisis.
Both officials were removed from office and subsequently suspended for alleged uncouth activities and issuance of unauthorised statements, as well as constant denigration of the organisation.
Recall that in November 2022, the late Afenifere leader, Pa Fasoranti, insisted that he remained the leader of the group.
This was after he had named his deputy, late Pa Ayo Adebanjo, as the leader of the organization.
Pa Adebanjo, who was taken aback over Fasoranti’s suddenly change of mind, had alleged that there was an attempt to split the organisation.
Observers of events in the polity were of the view that he was not far from the truth.
The split, however became a reality.
It was as a result of the fact that during the 2023 electioneering campaign, then candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu had visited Pa Fasoranti in Akure, where the former Lagos State governor was endorsed.
The decision did not sit well with the Adebanjo group.
How Fasoranti stepped down in 2021
It will be recalled that in March 2021, Pa Fasoranti stepped down as Afenifere leader, citing old age.
While Adebanjo had endorsed Peter Obi, who was presidential candidate of the Labour Party, LP, the Fasoranti group, threw its weight behind Tinubu.
Fasoranti had named the deputy leader, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, as the acting national leader of the group, while the former financial secretary, Oba Oladipo Olaitan, the Alaago of Kajola Ago in Atakumosa East Council Area, Ilesa, Osun State, was named the group’s deputy leader.
Fasoranti had said: “The development became necessary as the group needs, more than ever before, to have an improved organisation with a more effective approach to combat the monstrous invasion of our culture and pride as a people.
“Only a more alike and active leadership can achieve this. At 95 I am hardly able to provide such and so it is time for me to step aside.
“At this junction, I am proud to announce Chief Ayo Adebanjo, a politician of the Awolowo school of thought, as Acting leader of Afenifere and Oba Oladipo Olaitan, the Alaago of Kajola Ago in Atakumosa East Local Government Area, as the Deputy Leader.”
The late Afenifere leader, in a viral video had claimed: “I am still the leader of Afenifere. Afenifere has not endorsed Obi, we are endorsing Jagaban (Bola Tinubu) for the presidency.
“You can see the trend, the approval and the acceptability. You could see what happened when Tinubu came to meet me in Akure. The media carried the whole thing.
“Adebanjo cannot 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 can see, Jagaban is accepted and we approve of him. Obi has no stand in our mind at all.”
Adebanjo counters Fasoranti
But in a swift reaction, Ayo Adebanjo, known to be a staunch Awoist, faulted Tinubu’s visit to Pa Fasoranti, saying the comments trailing it were aimed at dividing the group.
Adebanjo, who earlier endorsed Peter Obi, said: “Nothing is going on other than an attempt to split Afenifere to which I will not be a party.
“It is a sort of conspiracy among those who want to see Afenifere divided. They have been on this plan for over a month ago and my members came to me to alert me about it and I said, ‘Don’t talk about it. It would be a diversion. All we want now is an election on issues.”
He said Pa Fasoranti had called to inform him about Tinubu’s planned visit adding that the former Afenifere leader was initially not open to receiving the APC candidate but he persuaded him to do so.
Adebanjo had said: “I will tell you the story and I won’t go further. Pa Fasoranti phoned me on Friday that Tinubu had phoned him and that he wanted to come and see him and he wanted to say no. I said no, don’t do that, you are an elder statesman. If he wanted to see you, why not?
“As far as he is concerned, Obi’s endorsement is based on the principles of equity as the South-East has not produced a president since the return of democracy in 1999. Since the South-West and South-South have produced the president, he said it is the turn of the South-East.
“South-South has had its own and I said it is remaining the South-East.”
Adebanjo died and the once formidable Yoruba body became polarized.
But with Fasoranti’s death, both camps are still laying claim to the leadership of the group.
Falae speaks
However, a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Chief Olu Falae, dismissed concerns about a possible succession struggle in Afenifere, saying the pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation has a tradition of producing leaders without contests or internal fights.
Falae, who is now a monarch, rules out the possible division within the Yoruba fold.
He said Afenifere was a self-perpetuating and self-regulating organisation in which leadership emerged through an established process rather than through competition for positions.
“Leadership chooses itself. A new leader will emerge without any struggle.
“It is obvious who the next leader will be, and I hope and pray it will be so this time,” he said.
Is reconciliation a tall order?
Vanguard was reliably informed that before Fasoranti’s death, there was underground moves to bring all Afenifere member under one roof.
For instance, it Chief Sola Ebiseni, who was the General Secretary of the Adebanjo camp, had crossed over the Fasoranti camp.
A senior Afenifere leader had confided in Vanguard that the reconciliation was to be unveiled immediately after the 2027 general elections.
However, with Fasoranti’s demise, this may be turn out to be difficult to achieve.
‘No light at the end of tunnel’
Providing his perspective on the crisis and possible reconciliation, a former National Secretary of the Yoruba body, Senator Femi Okurounmu, said he does not see light at the end of the tunnel as far as reconciliation in Afenifere is concerned.
Okurounmu, a former Senator from 1999-2003, said though it was too early to talk or reuniting the group, the two factions cannot be reconciled.
In a chat with Vanguard, the former lawmaker said: “You see, it is difficult. Things are difficult. It is very difficult to unite the two groups. The Akure group supports Tinubu. You cannot criticise Tinubu in the presence of the Akure group.”
Speaking further, he said: “Everything Tinubu does must be supported. That is the philosophy of the Akure group.
“The Adebanjo group is very critical of Tinubu. That is an irreconcilable difference, and that is why the two groups cannot be reconciled.”
Origin of crisis – Adejumo
Giving his perspective on the crisis in Afenifere, Mogaji Gboyega Adejumo, a former Public Relations Officer of the body, traces the origin of the crisis.
Adejumo, who is also the Gbonka Aare-Ona Kakanfo, said Afenifere’s future remains uncertain.
Tracing the origin of the crisis within the fold, he said: “What happens to Afenifere after the departure of Pa Fasoranti? All I can say is that Afenifere lost its glory some time back. Perhaps it is as long ago as 2008, and I will explain. The momentum of the Afenifere as at the moment that the June 12 episode became a national movement, which Afenifere spearheaded by forming NADECO, the ascendancy of Afenifere was assured.
“So it wasn’t in any way surprised that in 1999 Afenifere formed the Alliance for Democracy, AD, and the AD was able to sweep at least, all the southwest states. But that momentum faltered in 2003 due to so many reasons.
“However, in 2008, when Pa Abraham Adesanya, who was not only Afenifere leader, but the leader of the Yoruba, that was proclaimed by every Yoruba group, apart from the fact that Afenifere leaders have always been known as Yoruba leaders, but Pa Adesanya enjoyed that, which was the spoken word of every other group appointing him as Yoruba leader.
“So Pa Adesanya had suffered a stroke, and he felt it was time to anoint a new leader. As at that time, the foremost leaders were Pa Ayo Adebanjo, who actually started with them in 1951, and then there was Sir Olaniyun Ajayi, and the whole idea was Pa Adesanya asking the two of them to choose one among themselves.
“So that he can then proclaim the choice of the two of them as the new leader. But Pa Adebanjo felt that, as at that time, Pa Adesanya, who was an Ijebu kan, who took over from Pa Adekunle Ajasin, who was from Owo in Ondo
“And it just happened, there was nothing like Ijebu mafia, it just happened that Pa Ajasin and Pa Adesanya, and the mightier than the image of just a knighted man, somebody that was well loved, that is Sir Olaniyun Ajayi, they were all Ijebu; at least to that effect we could say that Pa Olaniyun Ajayi too, from Remo, is Ijebu.”
How Fasoranti took over from Adesanya
Mogaji Adejumo also spoke on how Fasoranti emerged of Afenifere and how the late Adebanjo convinced Adesanya to make him (Fasoranti) the leader of the group.
He said: “So Pa Adesanya felt another Ijebu man to succeed Pa Adesanya might look like a reality, perhaps an accentuation of the idea that there was an Ijebu mafia. So he now suggested that Papa Fasoranti should be the new leader. Pa Adesanya didn’t quite even remember who Papa Fasoranti was.
“Papa Fasoranti was the Commissioner for Finance during the time of Papa Ajasin as Governor of Ondo State, but he was not a member of the caucus of the Afenifere, and neither was he a participant in the struggle that followed after the June 12 1993 election, in which case Papa Fasoranti was not part of the Afenifere that fought for this democracy. He had more or less like retired from politics. So it was hard for Papa Adesanya to even remember him, let alone see him as the right kind of person.
“But Papa Adebanjo went on to convince him that he is a very cool-headed man, and after all that happened between 2003 and 2008, quite a lot happened, because the Governor of Ondo State then, who campaigned on the platform of the AD in 2023, broke away and the Afenifere went into some serious crisis. It started from 2001 when Uncle Bola Ige died, mysteriously and unexpectedly. So what Papa Adesanya felt was that we needed a user-friendly leader, very cool and unassuming, somebody who will be able to pull everybody together, and they will support him.
“And besides, he was older, joined the Afenifere in 1953 as what they called the Action Group Mosquito. As at that time, he was a student in the university, so he was recruited by Papa Adesanya himself. Anyway, that was how Papa Fasoranti was made the leader of the Afenifere, which eked Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, who was not even part of the Afenifere at that time, but had some influence here and there. There was even this Afenifere Renewal that had his signature all over it, but yet he was still interested in the leadership of the Afenifere.
So, he went ahead and announced the late Senator Ayo Fasanmi as the leader, as against Papa Fasoranti.
“And all of that happened. Papa Fasoranti, for about a year or more, was not even holding the Afenifere meeting at Akure.
“In the tradition of the Afenifere, the leader becomes the rallying point, and meetings would be held in the leader’s house, and which means everybody should go to Akure.
“Well, they started even at Ijebu Igbo for a while, and moved to the home of Sir Olaniyun Ajayi.
“So it was, I should think, I should think, Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, who even suggested that, look, the leader is Papa Fashononji, and his home is Akure, why should we be having the meeting here? So somehow, that sank in, and then the meetings now moved to Akure. But in the true sense of it, Afenifere leadership has always been very energetic, very eloquent, and ready to engage anyone intellectually and forcefully to work on principles. And Papa Ajayi too was like that.
“He gave late Sani Abacha some serious trouble, and even when he died, Abacha wouldn’t just have someone to come and preach. So it was Papa Ajayi who formed NADECO. And then Papa Adesanya, oh, well, a lawyer of note, he represented Papa Obafemi Awolowo everywhere.
“And then, of course, he was a Senator in the Second Republic. He was yet in the same mould of the kind of leaders Afenifere have been able to produce. So he was just like Obafemi Awolowo and Papa Ajayi.
“But by nature, his passion was not that kind of a Afenifere ready to fight, ready to carry the placard, ready to engage any one kind of leader. So that, again, would make the Afenifer to be a bit vulnerable and not to be as forceful, as pushful as Afenifere has been known to be. And sometime in 2015, Papa Ajayi actually wrote a letter and said he was resigning.
“He didn’t want to carry on again as the leader of Afenifere. He was overwhelmed, really. The opposition came from everywhere and just couldn’t handle it.
“And you won’t blame him because some are made very strong, some are mild-mannered. And he’s one of those mild-mannered, never-really-wanting-to-cause-any-trouble kind of gentlemen. So, but it was Pa Ayo Adebanjo again who said, no, you can’t just leave.
“You won’t just succumb to pressure. Those who want Afenifere to die will really be happy if you suddenly just up and left. So he convinced him to stay on.”
Afenifere’s rebirth under Fasoranti
“And, yes, Afenifere went through some rebirth under Papa Fasoranti. He started to attract new members, too, and started to evolve as yet an offshoot of the original Action Group. They became involved in the 2019 elections.
“From the 2015 elections, when Afenifere fully supported former President Goodluck Jonathan. Don’t forget that in 2014, there was the CONFAB organised by the Jonathan administration, which Afenifere had every signature of theirs in the preparation, the setting up, and even the exercise of having a conference of that nature happen.
“Afenifere was there. It was well put together. That is, the framework was put together by Dr. Femi Okurounmu of Afenifere.
“And co-chaired, well, Professor Bolaji Akinyemi was once a very active Afenifere member, was one of the co-chairs. So Afenifere rebirth, or let me say renewal and renaissance took place even at that time. Because when Afenifere had all the governors, yes, Afenifere was very solid.
“But from 2005 to 2013, those were very trying years for Afenifere. But Afenifere was good to come together again. And in 2017, Baba Adebanjo called everybody and said, everything we said would happen with Buhari have started to manifest.
“So what do we do? So Afenifere, by our tradition and principles and all that, is seen as a national movement. But then national movement with a particular principle, the Awolowo principle, which is so difficult for just anyone to pick up. So we decided we’ll pull in other Yoruba groups.
“And many groups showed up, maybe about 70 or so, but 42 were chosen. And then we launched the Yoruba Summit Group. And that was how we came by the Yoruba Declaration of 2017.
“I was made the National Policy Secretary of the Yoruba Summit Group. And that was when we even invited every other group in the Middle Belt Forum from the Southeast, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, and from the South-South, the PANDEF. And we came together and formed the Southern Middle Belt Leaders Forum, SMBLF.
“So all of this happened during the time Baba Fasoranti himself was thinking of, well, resigning. But he was buoyed, he was kept on by Baba Adebanjo and a few others, Chief Supo Shonibare and the rest, that, no, you go on. We will continue to fight.
So all of this happened during Baba Fasoranti’s time. And in 2021, that was when the, would I say it was just some kind of innuendo, some, well, I wouldn’t know where it came from, that Baba was going senile.
“And he moved against those who wanted to take an advantage of what they felt would make Anthony Ferry’s leadership come their way. So that was when Baba Fasoranti now decided, look, it’s time for me to truly bow out. And he made Baba Adebanjo the acting leader.
“I wouldn’t know what exactly that meant. And then see Oba Oladipo as the deputy leader.”
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