The pan-Yoruba socio-cultural organization, Afenifere, was formed in 1998 or thereabout following the formation of the Alliance for Democracy (AD). Founding members included the late Chief Abraham Adesanya as its first leader and late Chief Bola Ige as deputy leader. Other founding members were Pa Onasanya, Chief Reuben Fasoranti, Adegbonmire, Okurounmu Femi, Ganiyu Dawodu, Olanihun Ajayi, Olu Falae, Adebayo Adefarati, Alhaji Adeyemo and Ayo Adebanjo. While Afenifere has experienced highs and lows it has managed to stay together until now. Politics has somehow brought out the ‘beast’ in some of its leaders lately!
Since the late sage, Obafemi Awolowo, died no Yoruba leader has ever managed to rival his popularity, statesmanship and political sagacity and charisma. Pa Awo was a legend in both Yorubaland and elsewhere in Nigeria. He is comparable only to the late Nnamdi Azikiwe, Othman Dan-Fodio or Ahmadu Bello and Anthony Enahoro, great patriotic men who played politics without bitterness. In their time and generation Nigeria was a ‘virgin’ but now she has been criminally violated!
Now you have politicians of fortune, nay, bullion-van politicians, who use looted filthy lucre to ‘buy’ power at both the local, state and national levels! There would never be another Awo, Zik or Dan-Fodio or Bello for obvious reasons. This generation of politicians in Nigeria has posted mediocrity and cupidity as standard achievements. They do not play politics by the rules and best practices. They pillage, defraud and kill at will! Self-interest and survival supersede every other consideration — including national interest.
Afenifere is comparable to Ohaneze Ndigbo in Biafraland and the Arewa Consultative Forum (AGF) up north. They are all supposed to be apolitical. But that does not mean that they do not play politics or engage in political activities. They intervene when necessary, sometimes delving into the political arena and overheating the polity.
Recently, there is this Afenifere rumble in the ‘jungle’ going on in Nigeria. Months ago the Afenifere leadership led by Pa Ayo Adebanjo and the Secretary-General, Sola Ebiseni, had hosted the popular Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi. They endorsed his presidential ambition arguing strongly that the Igbos, long marginalized, should be given the chance to produce the next President.
In the interest of equity, fairness and justice, they reasoned, an Igboman should be voted into power as the next President post-Buharism! Fair point of view indeed! Since the ‘Obidient’ national leader has been accused of being ‘stingy’, sparing no money for nonsense, no one in their right senses could have accused him of doling out money to sway the Afenifere leaders.
Following that endorsement, albeit controversial in some Yoruba quarters, the ruling APC presidential candidate, Asiwaju Tinubu, had been planning all along how to counter the Adebanjo-led Afenifere position. And he got a solution by organizing a politically-motivated visit to the country home of the retired former leader of the group based in Akure, Ondo State, Pa Reuben Fasoranti. Fasoranti consequently ‘blessed’ Tinubu declaring support for his presidency.
Since then there have been accusations and counter-accusations. Explosive interviews or press statements had followed suit with each camp claiming to be the original faction. Adebanjo and his pro-Obi group are looking at a bigger picture devoid of ethnicity or religion but the Fasoranti group are playing ethnic politics.
Asiwaju Tinubu is a good student of ethnic politics. He is a master of divide and rule. He deliberately sought to divide and conquer Afenifere in particular and the Yoruba race in general. Yet he cannot win the presidency with his ’emi lo-kan’ or ‘Yoruba lo-kan’ mentality or self-entitlement sentiment.
Power is gotten at the ballot box. Buying voters’ conscience by exploiting their misery or recruiting thugs and hoodlums to intimidate or harass law-abiding citizens cannot bring about power conquest. Whoever engages in such inimical deeds are afraid of losing!
The issue here, in objective analysis, has little or nothing to do with ethnicity or religion. It goes beyond primordial tribal or religious politics. The ‘Obidients’ are found everywhere including Ihiala, Akure, Daura, Kano, Sokoto and Lagos. Their support for Obi/Datti ticket cuts across ethnic or religious cleavages! They simply want a radical change in the broken rotten system.
But Obi hardly enjoys a hundred percent endorsement anywhere including Yorubaland and even Igboland. He is a good capable hand but opposition is coming even from his Anambra State! The Anambra State Governor, Prof. Charles Soludo, is known to be ‘dis-Obidient’. His political rhetoric gives him away as either envious of Obi’s rising national profile or working for his opponents.
You can interpret it to mean that a prophet is said not to be honoured or respected at home but the truth of the matter is that Obi has his opponents and enemies. His rising political profile could be a source of worry for many of his adversaries.
Pa Fasoranti and his Afenifere faction in Akure must have been corrupted with money to do the Asiwaju bidding. Tinubu is stupendously rich and he is very generous in distributing cash and materials to whoever cares. The internal division in Afenifere is, therefore, expected given the Tinubu factor!
On election day many Nigerians would be casting their votes according to their conscience. Others would be casting theirs in accordance with the ‘stomach infrastructure’ exigencies. Others, too, would vote for money as vote-buying is always rampant in national elections. So, sharing money and edibles by the umbrella and the broom representatives would be highly expected. Many, too, would be voting according to ethnic, regional or religious affiliations.
Afenifere has imploded after the verbal ‘explosion’! And unity would no longer be restored given the entrenched partisan positions. Pa Fasoranti is disingenuous by arguing that he remained an Afenifere leader. We all know when last year he handed over ‘power’ to Adebanjo. It is, therefore, a puerile argument dictated by pecuniary gains! He had eaten his cake and now wants it back! We cannot but feel sorry for him.
Without Fasoranti’s support Obi can still be elected President if that is his destiny. With Adebanjo’s support Obi can still fail to clinch the presidency. So the Afenifere factor is negligible in our reckoning.
With Fasoranti faction’s Afenifere throwing their electoral weight behind him Asiwaju Tinubu can still fail to make it to Aso Villa. With or without Afenifere Obi and his ‘Obidients’ could still make it presidentially come February next year.
Nigeria is reputed to be a big jungle! And the Afenifere rumble in the jungle is as insignificant as President Buhari’s medical tourism or growing unemployment and pervasive insecurity in the land. It is as insignificant as the broken system or excruciating poverty reducing many Nigerians to animals in the jungle; it is as unimportant as the festering issues of corruption and the bastardization of the Naira.
SOC Okenwa
soco_abj_2006_rci@hotmail.fr
