At over 94, Chief Ayo Adebanjo is the only Yoruba Obidient of his age that I know. In other words, he is the only Yoruba nonagenarian, who has joined the social media youths to follow Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party. His reason for doing so is different from that of the youths, however. The youths are following Obi, believing he is an apostle of youths and a possible change agent, whereas Chief Adebanjo claims that the presidency should go to the East, the homeland of the Igbo nation, to which Obi belongs.
On the one hand, the youths seem to be following Obi for telling them what they want to hear, because that soothes their frustration with the present Nigerian situation. On the other hand, Chief Adebanjo is telling himself what he wants to hear. He does not seem to care whether anybody is listening. That may well explain why members of the group he leads are singing a different song, as revealed below.
Many Yoruba elders are surprised that Chief Adebanjo would take such a radical political position, given the candidacy of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress for the same 2023 presidential election. They are surprised because Chief Adebanjo is the leader of Afenifere, the pan-Yoruba socio-cultural organization, and Tinubu, the National Leader of the APC, is Yoruba himself. They expect a Yoruba leader, especially of Chief Adebanjo’s standing, to support one of their own.
Chief Adebanjo probably did not pay attention to the withdrawal of most Southwest presidential aspirants-Governor Ibikunle Amosun, Governor Kayode Fayemi, and Senator Ajayi Borrofice-from the race to make room for Bola Tinubu. Other Yoruba leaders, namely, Chief Bisi Akande and Chief Segun Osoba, laid the groundwork for their withdrawal, following the elders adage, Àgbà kìí wà ló?jà k’órí o?mo? tutun-ún wó? (Elders do not look on while others make grievous mistakes).
However, those who know Chief Adebanjo well enough or have followed his political trajectory closely enough, would not be that surprised. He is a man in search of answers to real or imagined problems that he considers important. It does not matter whether his people agree with him or not. As a result, he often departs from Yoruba mainstream political orientation or champions causes that may eventually backfire on the Yoruba nation.
For example, he was reported to be one of the arrowheads of the Obasanjo take-over of the Southwest from the then Alliance for Democracy in 2003, thereby killing the party birthed by the Afenifere, the organization he now leads. It will be recalled that, in the 2003 general elections, all the Southwest AD Governors were manipulated and rigged out of power by Obasanjo’s People Democratic Party. The only Southwest Governor, who withstood the onslaught, was Bola Tinubu of Lagos State. The last man standing then is the presidential candidate today.
This is not to deny Chief Adebanjo’s posture as a champion of selected Yoruba causes, such as true federalism and restructuring the organization of the country to facilitate the maximization of the potentials of each federating unit and provide self fulfillment to the different nationalities. In pursuance of this goal, he worked hand in hand with then Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State, who mounted a series of restructuring workshops, preparatory to the 2014 National Political Conference. Mimiko eventually took Chief Adebanjo and other Afenifere leaders to meet with then President Goodluck Jonathan in 2014. The outcome was a pact to vote for Jonathan’s PDP, which Mimiko himself joined, leaving his Labour Party in disarray. Interestingly, by pitching his tent with Obi of the Labour Party now, Chief Adebanjo appears to be done with the PDP.
It remains unclear which new goal Chief Adebanjo would pursue and which political party he will seek in support of the goal, especially if his dream of an Igbo presidency is not realized with Obi in 2023, just as restructuring did not happen with Jonathan in 2014.
What is clear, however, is that Chief Adebanjo is on his own with the Obi alliance. Here is how Basorun Sehinde Arogbofa, the immediate Secretary General of Afenifere, put it recently: “Chief R. F. Fasoranti whom Chief Ayo Adebanjo always refers to as leader told Priscilla Ediare in the Saturday Sun of July 20, 2022 on page 14 that … when Senator Bola Tinubu was the Governor of Lagos, he did very well. I think he can carry that into the Presidency. From all indications, if election will hold in 2023, this is where most Afenifere, who are the silent majority, are gravitating” (Vanguard, September 3, 2022).
I am not surprised that Yoruba leaders are gravitating toward Bola Tinubu. Afterward, they spent the last eight years or so complaining about Fulanisation, because a Fulani man has been in the saddle, who doesn’t appear to be empathetic or even care, while apparently looking on as herdsmen, bandits, and kidnappers rummage their farms and imperil peoples lives on the roadways. Now that they have a chance to put one of their own in the saddle, there should be no excuse not to support him. That’s why Tinubu began campaign in January by soliciting the support of Yoruba traditional rulers and elders.
This is the time to bury personal differences or animosities. This is the time to reject fabricated stories about Bola Tinubu, many of which claim that he owns what he does not own, that he bore names that they manufactured for him; and that he was what he never was. This is the time to look at what he has accomplished and what he will do. This is the time to educate frustrated youths that their frustrations are about to end with a leader who feels their pain, knows what to do, and will do it. Here is a leader whose ability to groom leaders has translated to the making of several state Governors, top Federal and state legislators, and five or six members of the present Federal cabinet.
There’s no better time than now to give Bola Tinubu a chance, and no better group can champion the course than Yoruba elders, who should know what is right and appropriate. Others should join them in promoting one of their own, instead of looking on or folding their arms. To be sure, Tinubu will be a national President, and not Yoruba President alone. But he will not look on while his people are attacked or their interest jeopardized.