Adeyeye: Afenifere Endorsed Tinubu Since April, 2022

A former Spokesman of Pan Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, who is now  National Chairman of South-West Agenda for Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Senator Adedayo Adeyeye, speaks with Sunday Aborisade, on issues surrounding the forthcoming 2023 general elections and the endorsement of Tinubu by Afenifere

What is your reaction to the appeal by the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party,  Atiku Abubakar, urging northerners to vote for him because the Yoruba or Igbo candidates could neither effectively satisfy their interest?

Atiku’s statement is extremely dangerous to the unity and peace of Nigeria. Trying to whip up ethnic sentiments in his desperate attempts to gain political support or advantage, cannot advance the unity and cohesion of a diverse country like Nigeria. Atiku, who had served as the vice president of Nigeria, ought to know better and he ought not to have made that kind of statement,which I consider, very unfortunate.

This is because it is likely to generate ethnic tension and drive a lot of people back to their ethnic shelves. This is rather unfortunate, happening at a time that all of us had agreed as a nation that the unity of Nigeria is extremely fragile due to a lot of centrifugal forces that had been trying to pull the nation apart. Atiku Abubakar needs to apologise formally to the entire Nigerians for making such a sensitive statement at this time.

As a former spokesperson for the Peoples Democratic Party, what is your reaction to the current arrangement in the party which concentrate power in the hands of northerners?

Beyond the party’s constitution, there was a gentleman arrangement among the political class in this country that in the interest of peace and unity of Nigeria, power should rotate to the South in 2023 because a whole area seems to be dominating power at the moment.

This is to give a sense of fairness, inclusion and participation to all Nigerians. This is also not to create an impression that some people had been born to rule. This gentleman agreement was being obeyed by the general political class in Nigeria since 1999. That was why, in 2007, the PDP, under President Olusegun Obasanjo, decided that power should go to the North after he, being from the South, had spent eight years in office. There were a lot of very strong candidates like Peter Odili, Donald Duke and others  from the South as at that time who were even stronger than northern aspirants then. Yet, the party, in the interest of peace, unity and cohesion agreed that power should shift to the North.

Hence, the late president Umaru Musa-Yar’Adua, emerged as the candidate of the PDP and invariably won the election. Yar’dua was meant to spend eight years but unfortunately, he died two years after he was elected due to ill-health. That was how former president Goodluck Jonathan, the vice president then, had to step in to complete Yar’Adua’s first term. After that, he contested for another term and he won. So, in 2015, there was a general concensus among the political class that power should rotate to the North because the South had held on to power since the advent of democracy in 1999. That was what ultimately culminated in the election of President Muhammadu Buhari. Nigerians are extremely sensitive to these matters and it is there in the constitution of the PDP that power should rotate between the North and South. I believe that since power has been in the North for quite some time, it should now go the South. Even the PDP leaders recognised this fact during their party’s convention to elect new national working committee members, they decided to zone the chairmaship to the North in anticipation of the fact that the presidential candidate will come from the South.

Unfortunately, it was a big surprise at the primary when the party threw away its constitution and failed to respect its gentleman arrangement being religiously followed since 1999 and instead again, decided to zone the presidency to the North. That is the major cause of a very serious crisis rocking the party at the moment because some people felt what Atiku did was not fair enough to all the section of the country.

People believe that the North produce both the chairman of the party and the presidential candidate. It does not matter that the election has not been held. What matters now is that the two prominent faces that people would be seeing in the PDP now, are northerners. That is the argument of some of their governors who are saying that the presidential ticket had been hijacked by Atiku, there was the need to reverse the arrangement put in place during the convention by allowing a southerner to be the chairman.

Don’t you think that the northern leaders could be more at peace with an arrangement that would produce one of their own as president again for eight years?

Northerners are fair minded people. I am saying this because I worked for the election of the late Chief MKO Abiola in 1993. He won with a landslide and even swept all the votes in the North because northerners are ready to vote for the best candidate from any part of the country not considering ethnic or religious sentiments. Atiku, having realised that the vast majority of the northern elders had realised that his candidature was not appropriate for this time, is now trying to whip ethnic and regional sentiments to get acceptability.

He had tried religious sentiments and it did not work. I believe that is too desperate of an Atiku who is referring to himself as a unifier. No leader who genuinely wanted to govern Nigeria should attain such level of desperation.

Why do you think that the northern elders are not speaking out to condemn the step taken by the PDP to throw up Atiku from the North as the party’s presidential candidate?

It is not only for the northern leaders to speak up, it is also the responsibility of all Nigerians to condemn Atiku’s action. Mere uttering that statement before the northern elders, Atiku has shown that he is not a pan Nigerian leader, who cannot represent the interest of everybody. God forbids he wins the election, he would come with a baggage, with a feelings among Nigerians that he was going to serve a regional and ethnic interest. Right now, Nigerians can disqualify Atiku in their minds because he had demonstrated the fact that he could not serve the interest of all Nigerians.

The Afenifere, a pan Yoruba social cultural organisation and Ohanaeze Ndigbo had endorsed the candidature of Mr. Peter Obi of the Labour Party. Will this not affect the chances of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu in the forthcoming presidential election?

To start with, I want to find out from you, which Afenifere are you talking about? Is it the Afenifere under the leadership of Chief Ayo Adebanjo who is in acting capacity or the leadership of Afenifere under Pa Reuben Fasoranti? Fasoranti is the substantive leader of Afenifere and he is still alive. He merely delegated parts of his responsibilities to Chief Adebanjo because of his advancement in age and challenges regarding his health. The authentic leader of the Afenifere is Pa Reuben Fasoranti.

Being a strong member of Afenifere having served as its spokesperson over 20 years ago, are you saying that Baba Adebanjo did not consult Pa Fasoranti before coming out to publicly endorse Peter Obi, an Igbo man?

I can authoritatively confirm to you, based on the investigation I conducted that there was not such consultation. Don’t forget that I was a national publicity secretary of Afenifere in the hey days of the pan Yoruba social, political and economic organisation. I was speaking for the Afenifere at its greatest moment in life. I know the inner workings of Afenifere so well. To the best of my knowledge, Pa Fasoranti has not been consulted. Other important leaders of Afenifere that I inquire from, had also said they were not consulted. That is not how Afenifere used to operate. It had never been a one man show. I do not know those who he claimed took the decision with him before he made that statement.

What is the implication of Obi’s endorsement by Chief Adebanjo on behalf of the Afenifere?

The action taken by Chief Adebanjo was capable of causing a division within the Afenifere and create a very great wedge among the leaders of Afenifere and by implications, among the Yoruba people at large because many of them are definitely dissatisfied with the statement of Chief Adebanjo. That is not how Afenifere used to operate?

How does Afenifere operate in this type of situation?

Before the Afenifere would take such an important decision, there would be wide consultation. The matter would be reviewed. Afenifere used to have a think-tank. People would study the situation and come up with a position. It is not that one person would rush to the Press and decide for the entire Yoruba. You can not unilaterally take a decision that could have implications on the unity, progress  and the development of the country.

What the Afenifere stands for is the protection of the interest of the Yoruba people. We are not saying that the candidate at the centre must be a Yoruba person. We are concerned about the dividend that would come to the Yoruba people under any leader, either from the North or the South. Afenifere had never been parochial in saying that a particular person must be the President. Our leaders are always looking for the person who would best serve the interest and the core values  that had already been established by the Afenifere for the Yorubaland.

What do you expect Chief Adebanjo to have done to avoid the current situation?

One would have expected the Afenifere leadership to investigate the positions of the candidates of the major parties on those values that Afenifere hold very dear. That honestly must have meant that there would be sessions with the four major candidates where they would be properly interrogated on their policies and programmes for Nigerians and how they would best aggregate the interest of the Yoruba. It is a legitimate thing to find out how the candidate of a political party would serve your interest or that of your group. The Arewa leaders have done that and I must commend them for that. Afenifere under Adebanjo made that mistake and it shot itself in the foot.

Did Asiwaju Tinubu consult the leadership of  Afenifere on his presidential aspiration before his party’s primaries?

Yes, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu visited Pa Reuben Fasoranti-led Afenifere in April this year in his Akure country home. Major leaders of the group were in attendance on the occasion. Chief Olu Falae, Chief Seinde Arogbofa, and others were present there. On that occasion, Asiwaju Tinubu made his intention to contest for the position known to the leaders and sought their blessings. They gave him their words, endorsement, blessings, prayed for him and wished him success. It was then agreed at the occasion that if by providence, he wins the primaries, he should come back to inform the leaders and seek further blessings.

Tinubu has been a very strong member of the Afenifere who contributed immensely to the growth of Afenifere some of us can say that because we know it.