Exclusive: How Obasanjo, Adebanjo Divide Afenifere, Move From Supporting PDP to Obi, Dump Tinubu

• The recent development where Ayo Adebanjo, the factional leader of the pan-Yoruba socio-political group Afenifere, endorsed Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has continued to generate reactions
• The polity became heated when another faction led by Pa Reuben Fasoranti endorsed Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC)
• But Gbemisola Adeoti, a professor of literature in English, travelled down the history lane and revealed how the division in Afenifere started and the role former President Olusegun Obasanjo played in the division.

Gbemisola Adeoti, a professor of literature from Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), has said the pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere was united during the pro-democracy era.

The university don revealed that the crack in the group started in 1998 when the Yoruba was meant to produce a candidate for the presidency.

Professor Adeoti said:

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After the annulment of June 12, there was that unanimity unanimous front in the southwest, represented by Afenifere, led by first Baba Adekunle Ajasin, and then later Baba Abraham Adesanya. That built up to the death of Abacha and the coming of Abdulsalami and then the transition program.

They were one. But when the field was declared open for politics in the Fourth Republic, they had to choose a presidential candidate. They were all together in PDP. But some sections of the Southwest discovered that most of the people or the dominant people in the PDP were the real people who work with the military, who are against democracy, and they cannot work with them.

Pa Reube Fasoranti faction of Afenifere has been avoiding people that work with the military

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So, they pulled out and then form an APP (Action People Alliance). But by the time they were in APP, they also saw that some of these elements, like Baba Adedibu, were also in APP, it was then pulled out again, and formed an Alliance for Democracy (AD), which had root in the southwest.

So, in picking a presidential candidate for Southwest. They were torn between Olu Falae, who joined them later, and Bola Ige, who had remained with them since the First Republic. So when they cast the vote, it went in favour of Olu Falae.

To the surprise of the many people who thought that somebody who remained with them will be the person to pick so the division started from there. Bola Ige and his supporters never forgave them and that accounted for his reason to take up appointment under Obasanjo.

How Obasanjo divides Afenifere

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The professor further revealed that the emergence of former President Olusegun Obasanjo played a significant role in the division rocking the Afenifere.

He said:

So when Obasanjo took over, he was looking for a way of decimating Afenifere and he supported, you know, some people, a section, so that AD divided. Some Afenifere went with one faction of AD and some went with another faction of the party.

How Obasanjo forced Tinubu, Bisi Akande out of AD to form AC

I'm given this background so that you know that. Okay, so, AD then became factionalized. And Obasanjo was actively involved in that factionalization to the extent that Tinubu and others in that group, including Baba Bisi Akande, then decided to leave AD for them, pulled out and formed their own Action Congress (AC) a new party.

It is that party that remain AC, later transformed to ACN and then went into an alliance, then APC while the other group, like Baba Adebanjo, to rival Afenifere, Obasanjo sponsored Yoruba Council of Elders, that was another group

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Obasanjo, Adebanjo would not go in the way of Tinubu

But Baba Adebanjo was with Obasanjo in his own version of Afenifere, was with PDP when Obasanjo left, he was with Jonathan, actively with Jonathan, even when in 2011, Adebanjo supported Buhari, but later, by 2015, he went against Buhari and supported Jonathan.

In 2019, instead of Buhari again, he supported Atiku. So it is clear that no matter what anybody says Baba Adebanjo will go in a direction where Tinubu is not going and Tinubu will not go in a direction where Baba Adebanjo is not going.

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So that is what happened. Now just look at the scenario, the presidential candidates were just coming out. People are holding town halls meeting. In the north, the Arewa Consultative Forum, Northern Elders Forum, about six of them organized a debate for all the presidential candidates in Kaduna.

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Tinubu was there, Atiku was there. All the groups made it clear that the reason is not to endorse anybody, but they just want to interact with the candidate. So the northern group had not come out to support any candidate.

But before the real campaign started, Baba Adebanjo said they have decided and it is OBI that they are endorsing. Just look at that. I mean, the voice of Esau and Jacob. If there is no ulterior motive, why the hurry to adopt a presidential candidate, when where the person comes from have not even adopted him.

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The other side saw the politics being played by the Baba Adebanjo's version and they also try to claim their own section of the Afenifere.

Who the Yoruba people are

In any case, the Yoruba people have always been their own masters. They don't go in the same direction. In the Second Republic, even when Obafemi Awolowo, the leader, was the presidential candidate of NPN. People like Adisa Akiloye, Akinjide, were in NPN.

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Adisa Akinloye was the chairman of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN). Still the same southwest.

The division in Afenifere is democratic

So, for me, it shows that it's democratic. Once it is allowing people to freely express their opinion.

At the end of the day, it is not the Baba Adebanjo, who will determine where people will go or the Baba Fasoranti. People will decide where they want to go.

If you look at the Adebanjo faction, do they represent the popularity of opinion, that is the question? If yes, how have they been faring? And then how many people attend this Afenifere meeting? Most of the people that they are old or older people.

So, I don't see any problem there. It's not new. It's expected to happen in a Democratic situation. What we should worry about is if Baba Adebanjo did what he did, adopting a candidate on behalf of a whole race without proper consultation. And everybody said yes, no contrary opinion, then you should be worried, because that will not be Yoruba.

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Legit.ng earlier reported that Gbemisola Adeoti, a professor of literature in English, has said the political class, particularly the presidential candidates, must have the will to abide by the rules of the election.

The University don also posited that once there is a will, there will always be a way, while urging the security agencies also to have the will to suppress the growing insecurity in the country.

Adeoti, who has built a career in humanity, said if elections can take place in states like Borno and Yobe in 2015 and 2019, then the security operatives.

Source: Legit.ng