From Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
The cracks in the wall of Afenifere, the Pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, became wide and conspicuous on Tuesday March 28, 2023. It was the day the leadership of the organisation converged on Isanya Ogbo, Ogun State, the country home of the Acting Leader, Chief Ayo Adebanjo. Some major decisions made on that day have brought to the public the storm that had been gathering in the organization for long.
Pa Adebanjo was appointed Acting Leader of Afenifere in 2021 by the Leader of the group, Pa Reuben Fasoranti, who has said on several occasions that he remains the substantive leader of the organization.
But Fasoranti and Adebanjo are not on the same page on Afenifere’s position on the 2023 presidential elections. While Adebanjo pitched his tent with Labour Party’s Peter Obi, Pa Fasoranti is with the then candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The two positions polarised Afenifere into two factions prior to the conduct of the general elections.
Investigation revealed that some leaders of Afenifere were not in support of Adebanjo’s position. But they said they would never criticise him openly before the general elections. Everything was going on peacefully until Tinubu visited Pa Fasoranti on October 30, 2022 in Ondo State. At the event, which had some other Yoruba leaders and elders in attendance, Pa Fasoranti endorsed and blessed Tinubu for the Office of the President of Nigeria. That was after Adebanjo had endorsed Peter Obi. But the cracks in the wall were quickly mended between Fasoranti and Adebanjo. What was degenerating into a war of words between the two nonagenarians was nipped in the bud. But this week’s meeting of Afenifere seems to have reopened fresh wounds.
Suspension of 2 principal officers
The meeting, which was presided over by Adebanjo, suspended two principal officers of the organisation – the National Publicity Secretary, Jare Ajayi, and the National Organising Secretary, Abagun Kole Omololu. The announcement of their suspension was made known to the public via a communique issued at the end of the meeting, which was jointly signed by Chief Adebanjo, and the Secretary-General of Afenifere, Sola Ebiseni.
The communique read in part: “The meeting observed the uncouth activities and unauthorised statements in its name and to the constant denigration of the organisation, by Jare Ajayi, the National Publicity Secretary, and Abagun Kole Omololu the National Organising Secretary. After due consideration of the unending embarrassing conduct of the two officers, the meeting resolved that they be and are hereby removed immediately from their respective offices and their membership be suspended sine die pending further decisions after their appearance before and recommendations by the Disciplinary Committee.”
The meeting specifically mentioned two statements issued by Jare Ajayi on behalf of Afenifere – one to tackle eminent businessman, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, and an earlier one to congratulate Asiwaju Bola Tinubu who had been declared President-Elect, on his victory in the presidential poll of Saturday February 25. Meanwhile, Afenifere, under Adebanjo, had condemned the outcome of the poll and has remained with Labour Party (LP) and Obi in their post-election struggles.
While repudiating what its publicity secretary wrote, the group said: “We received a message credited to Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu in a viral video alleging indictment of the Yoruba as political rascals on account of ethnic violence deployed by politicians of the ruling party in Lagos State. On the analysis of the video and information at the disposal of Afenifere by people at the Anambra State gathering, we are convinced that Chief Iwuanyanwu rightly asserted that the Yoruba and Igbo were not at war and truly condemned the shenanigans of some political rascals. Flowing from the above, Afenifere never issued any statement and dissociates the organisation from any such statement against Chief Iwuanyanwu.”
On the presidential poll, the meeting resolved: “That Afenifere reiterates our position that the Presidential election held on the 25th of February 2023 was characterised by all forms of primitive manipulations and noncompliance with the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Electoral Act 2022 and the Guidelines and Regulations made pursuant thereto with concomitant legislative force. The results of the lawful votes at the presidential election available to the Afenifere through credible sources confirm that Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, won the said election and we, thus, support his decision challenging the contrary declaration by the INEC.”
Jare Ajayi Speaks
Meanwhile, the suspended National Publicity Secretary, Jare Ajayi, in his swift reaction to the development, said: “I, and to the best of my knowledge, Abagun Kole Omololu, the National Organising Secretary, were never issued a query, let alone be asked to face any disciplinary committee. It is a big pity that an organisation founded on principles and that is guided by ethos and regulations could take seeming disciplinary actions against any member – not to talk of officials – without giving them an opportunity to respond to whatever allegations the leaders have against them.”
According to him, the purported suspension was political and unjust because action was not preceded with hearing, whether fair or not. He added that the action was also predicated on extraneous matters relating mainly to the just-concluded 2023 elections, and not on the principles that Afenifere really stands for. He, however recalled two recent occasions that he had to issue press releases.
“In the heat of the sufferings being experienced by Nigerians in accessing their monies in the banks, I called on the Federal Government and the Central Bank of Nigeria to extend the deadline for the circulation of both the old and the new Naira notes by at least three months. This was early in February before the pronouncement by the Supreme Court.
A top officer of Afenifere called me to say that what I asked the government to do was not the position of the organisation. I asked him what the position was, the senior officer told me that the position will be stated after a meeting that was being contemplated. I said that people were suffering, hence the statement I issued. And thereafter, the position of the organisation on the issue was never made known to me.
“The second occasion was when some members called me to express their displeasure over the statement issued to congratulate the President-elect, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu, after his electoral victory. Those who called me said that since Mr. Peter Obi and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar (the presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic Party –PDP) were still contesting Asiwaju’s victory, it was wrong to congratulate him. These are the only two occasions when some at the top level of the organization have expressed their opinions on the statements I issued. And the opinions so expressed did not come in form of queries from the appropriate quarters nor was I, or Abagun Kole Omololu, invited to face any disciplinary committee.”
Saturday Sun can authoritatively report that this reporter contacted Jare Ajayi on many occasions in the past for interviews and comments on trending issues. But he was always cautious to speak on the grounds that he would not want to say something without first getting the take of the Acting Leader of Afenifere. On many occasions, he would decline comments and plead that Afenifere should not be mentioned in the story.
More confusion as Fasoranti nullifies suspension
But on Wednesday March 29, 2023, a new twist was introduced into the development. The Leader of Afenifere, Fasoranti , dismissed the communiqué issued after the Ijebu-Igbo meeting. He asserted, in a statement he personally issued, that the purported removal and suspension of both Ajayi and Omololu, were null and void.
“My attention has been drawn to the communiqué purportedly issued after a meeting that held on Tuesday, March 27, at Isanya Ogbo, Ogun State. This statement is being issued because of the content of the said document. Section 2.02 of the document claims that ‘the results of the lawful votes at the presidential election available to the Afenifere, through credible sources confirmed that Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, won the said election’.
“Afenifere could not have asserted that someone, other than the person declared by the body duly authorized by the Constitution and other extant laws of the land, is the winner of the presidential election held on February 25, 2023 in Nigeria. The body mandated to conduct elections in Nigeria, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), after the completion of this year’s presidential election on February 25th, has declared the candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu, as the winner of the said election.
“Our National Publicity Secretary of Afenifere, Comrade Jare Ajayi, issued a congratulatory message to the President-elect after he had been issued a Certificate of Return by INEC.
This was cited as an ‘uncouth activity’ by the communiqué mentioned above, which further stated that Abagun and Ajayi were ‘suspended sine die pending further decisions after their appearance before and recommendations by the Disciplinary Committee’, meaning that the two were pronounced guilty and consequently sanctioned even before their appearance before a disciplinary committee.
“That is not the Afenifere way. A General Meeting does not have the power to convene and take such a far-reaching decision just at the whims of individuals. There must have been an official petition laid at the Caucus Meeting, which is referred to the Disciplinary Committee that will investigate and give the officers involved the opportunity to plead their cases. Reports and recommendations are then received by the Leaders-in-Council, who then take a decision on the Report with The Leader before reverting to the Caucus in communication. This fiat approach as seen in the current situation is alien to our organisation and cannot stand.
“On the assertion that someone else other than the person declared by INEC as winner of the presidential election, this type of position is alien to us in Afenifere, which does not conduct itself as an agent of the state let alone as an electoral umpire. We accept the results of the elections at all levels as declared by INEC until otherwise decided by competent courts in the land.
“Presently, the whole world knows that Nigeria has a President-elect in person of Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu, a true Yoruba son and nationalist. We in Afenifere not only acknowledge this, we take delight in his in-coming presidency and are confident that he will, by the grace of God, return Nigeria to the glorious position that all of us will be proud of. Tinubu is a focused, highly disciplined person who is very adept in organization and in administering people. Based on his antecedent, we have no doubt at all that under his leadership, Nigeria will breathe a new lease of life that will soon make her one of the nations of the world that are respected and admired.
“The whole world is aware that I personally blessed and anointed Ahmed Bola Tinubu on October 30, 2022 in the presence of notable people from all parts of Yorubaland right here in my place in Akure. How can we then turn round and condemn the election of such a person? We never did so. I also read in the said Communiqué, the purported removal and suspension of the National Publicity Secretary and the National Organising Secretary of the organization in persons of Comrade Jare Ajayi and Abagun Kole Omololu.
“At no time was any of these officials reported to me as doing anything against what Afenifere stands for or doing anything against the interests of our race, the Yoruba. Thus, at no time was I informed that they were queried, warned or sanctioned for conducting themselves in a manner contrary to what Afenifere or the Yoruba stand for.
“Being an organization that believes in justice and fairness, being an organization that always maintains that those at the helms of affairs should follow the rule of law, Afenifere, our organization, cannot just wake up and pronounce some officials removed and suspended without telling them what their offences are and without giving them the opportunities to defend themselves.
“Such a step is not only against natural justice; it is also in clear defiance of the law of the land. Afenifere believes in the rule of law and in the fundamental rights of all, including right to fair hearing. For these and other reasons, the purported removal and suspension are null and void. The two officials should be commended rather than condemned for the selfless services they are rendering to Afenifere, to the Yoruba race and to Nigeria and humanity. They are hereby so commended.”
Way forward
Meanwhile, some stakeholders who spoke to Saturday Sun on the matter, appealed to to intervene and save Afenifere from the ongoing crisis.