Afenifere leader Senator Abraham Adesanya passed on 10 years ago. Group Political Editor EMMANUEL OLADESU writes on the legacies of the elder statesman and the effects of his demise on the pan-Yoruba socio-political group.
Ten years ago, the news of his demise reverberated across the six geo-political zones. The incident marked the depletion of the Awoists, who have faithfully propagated the ideals of the sage, the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo. He was mourned by compatriots who acknowledged that he died without a significant political blemish. Like his political leaders, the indomitable Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Chief Adekunle Ajasin, he was above board in many areas; highly disciplined, knowledgeable, versatile, incorruptible and committed to the pursuit of the federal principle.
At 86, he died a fulfilled politician after a protracted illness, although he often lamented that civil rule, and not democracy, was restored in 1999, following a protracted battle against the military by the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO).
Abraham Aderibigbe Adesanya, successful transporter, astute lawyer and shrewd politician was a member of the old order. The Yoruba chief from Ijebu-Igbo, Ogun State, was, until his demise, the National Leader of Afenifere and chieftain of the now weakened Alliance for Democracy (AD). The position of Leader of Afenifere was not a salaried position. Adesanya also refused to use his status to make money at the twilight of life. When one of young his aides, who is a journalist, asked him to mobilise the Southwest functionaries in government to contribute salaries for the leader, thereby converting he position into a lucrative one, Adesanya, who was in the same car with him, kept mute.
On getting to a market in Yaba, Lagos Mainland, he asked the aide to get down and approach the masses there for the reward he had in mind for the Afenifere leadership. He said to him: “Get down from the car and go to these people in the market and ask for the salary for Afenifere leader. They are the people we are serving”. The aide was rebuked by that explanation. When the governors of the Southwest later presented a jeep to him, the old man was not excited. He requested for a small ladder, which he would climb to get to the vehicle. It was curious that an Ijebu man could shun opulence, materialism, funfair and the love of money.
In post-Adesanya era, the absence of the great leader was felt by the organisation. He was a lover of proverbs, which he employed as corrective tools. As leader of a divided politico-cultural organisation, he employed wisdom and his moral authority to forge cohesion. He aligned the organisation with the progressive tendency, which is consistent with its historical antecedent. Therefore, observers were curious when, following his death, surviving Afenifere leaders gravitated towards the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governments; first in Ogun State, and later, the Jonathan presidency, after dangling the carrot of national conference, which report the former president lacked the will and sincerity to implement.
As the Afenifere leader, he canvassed the national question. He favousred a return to parliamentary system. He was also an advocate of true federalism. Adesanya called for state police, restructuring and decentralisation of power.
At the fifth anniversary lecture in his memory at the Afe Babalola Hall, University of Lagos, Akoka, eminent Nigerians, including Lagos State Governor Babatunde (SAN), who was represented by his Regional Integration Special Adviser, the late Rev. Tunji Adebiyi, former Ogun State Governor Aremo Segun Osoba, and Oodua peoples Congress (OPC) founder Dr. Fredrick Fasehun, described him as a great nationalist who served his nation and country creditably. The event was organised by the Ogun State Students Association.
A lecturer from the Department of International Relations, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Prof. Alade Fawole, who spoke on “The place of the Yoruba in Nigerian politics and development”, said that Adesanya took a cue from Awolowo by being a good citizen of Yoruba before being a good citizen of Nigeria. “In his several endeavours and engagements, his life was defined by integrity, honour, the Omoluabi concept, selflessness, unwavering commitment to principles, loyalty to the people and their cause, and commitment to ensuring the greatest happiness for the greatest number of the people”, he added.
Fawole however, charged them to remember that their strength lies in the progressive creed bequeathed by Awo and sustained by Ajasin and Adesanya. He urged Yoruba to defend its legacies in education. The don also called for support for the integration agenda mooted by the ARG and implemented by the Southwest governors.
Adesanya was a role model and mentor to many politicians who relished values and principles. For him, contentment was a great virtue. Thus, as a regional legislator in the First Republic, senator in the Second Republic, and NADECO leader during the dark days of the military rule, his watchword was service to humanity. He loathed avarice, materialism, primitive accumulation and other acts of political indecency. He objected to lateness to meetings. He was perceived as a moral voice moderating the activities of the progressive Yoruba actors who were ultimately divided by the scramble for power at the federal, state and local governments.
That stiff competition for political offices took its toll on the umbrella organisation he led till he passed on. The signs of strains were visible, owing to the cracks in the fold since the late Chief Ganiyu Dawodu opposed the candidature of Senator Bola Tinubu for the Lagos State governorship and the late Chief Bola Ige and Chief Oluyemisi Falae clashed at D’Rovans, Ibadan, during the AD presidential primaries. Although he managed, to a large extent, to unite the two caucuses, it was evident that the group only wobbled on into a perilous future. Following his departure to the great beyond, Afenifere broke down.
Some Afenifere chieftains may wish to reflect in their memoirs the circumstances surrounding the removal of its Secretary, Ayo Opadokun, who was alleged to have been hobnobbing with the former All Peoples Party (APP) Governor Mohamamed Lawal of Kwara State. While Opadokun was shoved aside, the group did not raise an eyebrow when another chieftain, Senator Cornelius Adebayo, former governor of Kwara State, was appointed as minister by former President Obasanjo.
During Adesanya’s burial at Ijebu-Igbo, the rivalry and division in Afenifere came to the fore. The two factions of Afenifere, led by Chief Rueben Fasoranti and Senator Ayo Fasanmi, were in the ancient town to pay their last respects and score political points. The death of their leader failed to unite them. Up to now, reconciliation has proved difficult. The acrimony, observers contend, is not only a disservice to the memory of Adesanya, but also to the memory of Ajasin and Awo.
For Adesanya, politics was not a profession. It was a vocation. Before he joined the fray, he had established himself as a businessman and lawyer. He successfully ran a transport business. He was also not a failure at the bar. But, he entered politics as a rebel, who was estranged from the party tradition of the time. He questioned the decision of the AG leadership, which advised him not to contest election into the Western Regional House of Assembly in 1956. When he acted contrary, he lost his deposit at the poll.
Adesanya was already a household name in his Ijebu-Igbo Constituency before independence. The people were rooting for him. However, the ruling Action Group (AG) advised him to opt out of the contest, promising to reward him with the seat in 1960. He jettisoned the advice and contested as an independent candidate. He suffered the same fate like the young lawyer from Akure, Akinola Aguda, who, despite his popularity, lost to the AG candidate. But, in 1960, Adesanya bounced back. He retraced his steps to the AG, contested for the same seat on that platform and won. Since then, he treasured the doctrine of party supremacy.
The Ijebu-Igbo politician loved his leader, Awo. But, he always refrained from playing to the gallery. That lack of flair for frivolities endeared him to his leader. Whenever he visited the sage, the old man would instantly grant him an audience because he believed that Adesanya must have come for an important business. When the AG split into two factions, following the AG crisis, which reached the peak at the rancorous Jos Congress in 1962, he rejected the entreaties from Premier Ladoke Akintola to dump Awo’s AG for the Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP), which was derisively referred to as ‘Demo Party’.
Adesanya was present at the court throughout the treason felony trial of Awolowo. As a young lawyer, he had the privilege to carry the gown of the British legal icon, Dingle Foot, to the court. The trial was window dressing as the leader of the Northern Peoples Congress (NPC) and Premier of the Northern region, Sardauna Ahmadu Bello, Prime Minister Abubakar Balewa and Akintola had made up their minds that Awo should be liquidated. When the judge, whose hands were tied, Justice George Soniran Sowemimo, sentenced the Leader of Opposition to 10 year imprisonment, the AG members wailed inside and outside the High Court.
Awo was unperturbed. He surveyed the court, looking for a loyal disciple whose eyes were not soaked with tears. Adesanya, who he fondly called ‘Ajantala,’ was the man. Awo wanted to give him a parting note for his beloved wife, Hannah Idowu Dideolu. But, as he handed over the note to him, he too burst into tears. Awo, who had refused to be seized by emotion, rebuked his faithful disciple. “What do you want me to be doing now when you are crying?” he asked. Immediately, Adesanya wiped away his tears.
In the seventies, Adesanya was a strong member of the Committee of Friends, which metamorphosed into the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN). He was elected a senator in 1979 and re-elected in 1983. Up to now, that part-time legislature had remained the best. Adesanya, who was not a bench warmer, contributed to robust debates on the floor. He also rendered valuable legal services to his party when the notorious National Party of Nigeria (NPN) rigged elections in some parts of the country. When the military sacked the legitimate authorities from power in 1983, the Adesanya’s parliamentary career ended on that note.
In the Third Republic, politicians were in disarray. They were tossed around by former military President Ibrahim Babangida, who, through his dubious political experimentation, extended the handover date. Initially, Adesanya heeded Awo’s advice to the progressives that they should learn to wine with the devil with a long spoon. But, when the proscribed Social Democratic Party (SDP) aspirant, the late Chief Moshood Abiola, showed remorse and pleaded with the Yoruba establishment to endorse his candidature, Adesanya was one of the delegates who elected him as the candidate in Jos, the Plateau State capital.
The annulment of the historic June 12, 1993 presidential election won by Abiola threw up Adesanya as an activist in his old age. Following the death of the Afenifere Leader, Chief Adekunle Ajasin, he was selected as the new leader at Ibadan by Yoruba stakeholders. Ige, the Yoruba irredentist, became his deputy. He also doubled as the NADECO leader at the home front, when the late Chief Anthony Enahoro escaped abroad. He suffered bruises in the hand of the military. When he escaped death by whiskers when his vehicle was attacked, he earned the appellation, Apamaku. He was unwavering in his staunch support for the enthronement of democracy to the end.
Adesanya and other Afenifere leaders, including Chief Ayo Adebanjo and Sir Olaniwun Ajayi, played an active role in the emergence of Tinubu as the governor of Lagos State in 1999. The Third Republic senator had expressed his desire to return to the Upper Chamber. But, in their wisdom, the Yoruba leaders advised him to run for governor, a move that enraged their colleague, Dawodu, a member of the Afenifere Controlling Leadership, who resisted their decision, but without success.
Many were surprised that Dawodu, a long standing governorship aspirant, had refused to aspire in 1999. It was an error of judgment on his part to have thrown his weight behind Funso Williams, who had been branded as a functionary of military government. Afenifere and NADECO leaders, including Dawodu were opposed to that military government.
How to bring Tinubu and Dawodu to a truce was a challenge. Also, it was difficult to fully reconcile Ige with Adebanjo and Ajayi, who Ige believed moved against him at D’Rovans. Ige accepted to serve as minister under President Olusegun Obasanjo without consultation or clearance from the umbrella group. He never returned alive.
Up came the Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE), which tended to reduce Afenifere’s influence, instead of complimenting it. The first YCE President was Ven. Emmanuel Alayande. The secretary was Justice Adewale Thompson, who was a day older than Adesanya. Whenever Adesanya and Thompson met, they used to crack jokes. Thompson would demand that Adesanya should first greet him because he was his senior by age. Then, Adesanya would say: “Good morning my elder brother by one day.”
But, a gulf developed, following the setting up of the YCE. When Alayande shunned Afenifere meeting, he fired salvos at the Afenifere leader. “Is it because we (AG) leaders asked him to carry the gown of Dingle Foot that he now thinks that he is the leader?”, he asked. At domestic level, Adesanya was also battling with another challenge. His daughter, Mrs. Dupe Adelaja, was appointed as a minister. She was divided between loyalty to her father and husband. Her father, Adesanya, enjoined her to reject the offer, saying: “If she is a daughter of her father, she will not accept it”. But, other relations thought differently.
Former Governor Tinubu felt threatened when Dawodu, the Lagos AD chairman, indicated that he could not be persuaded to support him for a second term. Tinubu moved swiftly. He objected to Dawodu’s continuation in office as the chairman, preferring Prince Abiodun Ogunleye for the position. He offered other big appointments to the god of Lagos. Adesanya was torn between Tinubu and Dawodu. He could not abandon his friend of AG and UPN days. Yet, he understood Tinubu perfectly. He even received bashing for not permitting other members of the Controlling Leadership to descend on the former governor during the crisis. The Afenifere leader strategically allowed a committee chaired by Ajayi to suggest a power sharing formula, ahead of 2003 elections. The committee came up with the controversial 60:40 formula. Also, for strategic reasons, Tinubu camp rejected the proposal.
Under Adesanya’s watchful eyes, Afenifere was on the brink. Dawodu pulled his supporters out of the political family and took refuge in PAC. On the eve of the 2003 governorship election in Lagos, he directed his supporters to support the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, the late Williams. At that stage, Afenifere’s influence had been weakened, because while the five governors it supported in Ogun, Osun, Oyo, Ondo and Ekiti states were displaced by the PDP, Tinubu of Lagos survived the earthquake.
Ahead of 2003, there were pressures on the group to support Obasanjo, based on ethnic sentiment. Opinion was divided. Previously, Afenifere was said to have interceded for a prominent Yoruba captain of industry in the banking and communication sectors, who had fled the country, following victimisation by the federal Government. The mission to Aso Rock failed. So, Adesanya expressed reservations about any pact with Obasanjo. Former Ogun State Governor Osoba and his Oyo State counterpart, the late Alhaji Lam Adesina, thought otherwise. When Osoba, Adesina, Ade Adefarati, Adebisi Akande and Adeniyi Adebayo were allegedly rigged out, it was evident that Afenifere had been reduced to a toothless bulldog which could only bark, but not bite.
Between 1999 and 2003, there were also complaints that Afenifere was losing its grip on the governors. Its monitoring activities in the six states were allegedly resisted.
The crises in the six chapters of Afenifere/AD in Lagos, Ondo, Ogun, Osun, Ekiti, Oyo, and to some extent, Ekiti, took their tolls on the group. Fed up with the rift between governors and their deputies, the lieutenants of Awo, who had witnessed similar feuds between Awo and Akintola, Ige and Sunday Afolabi, and Ajasin and Omoboriowo, asked the deputy governors who could not cooperate with their bosses to resign. Thus, Senator Kofoworola Bucknor-Akerele and Iyiola Omisore, who had become estranged with Tinubu and Akande, had to leave the administrations. Also, scores of the AD chieftains defected to the PDP, firing salvos to their former camps. They included Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, Senator Sunday Fajimi, Hon. Foluke Ette, Hon. Niyi Owolade, Femi Onimole, Chief S.K. Babalola and Chief Segun Adegoke. Later, Dayo Adeyeye and Dare Babarinsa quit the camp, following the 2007 post-primary crisis in Ekiti. Also, at that time, Yoruba being marginalised, although their son was the President.
These were not Adesanya’s making. But, the tragedy of losing political power to conservative rivals in the Southwest was too heavy for the leader to bear. Afenifere warriors refused to listen to his fatherly counsels, which he offered in words laced with proverbs. Soon, the leader succumbed to illness. There was no succession plan. Ige, his deputy, had died and there was no replacement yet. At that twilight of life, chieftains from Ijebu axis started to jostle for the position of leader. But, the younger elements like Dayo Adeyeye, Niyi Afuye, Jimi Agbaje and Yinka Odumakin advised Adesanya to nominate Fasoranti as the Acting Leader to halt the insinuation that Afenifere was ‘Ijebu Mafia.” The leader did not recover from the illness.
The first test for his successor, Fasoranti was the crisis in the AD. Two members of Ige camp, Senator Mojisoluwa Akinfenwa and Akande, were jostling for the national chairmanship of AD. Two parallel congresses were held in Abuja and Lagos where the rival chairmen emerged. But, during the meeting of Afenifere at Akure, Fasoranti recognised Akinfenwa as chairman, claiming that the convention that produced him complied with the guidelines. The majority of chieftains who backed Akande at the Lagos convention rejected the Akure Declaration, accusing Fasoranti of bias. At the meeting of Afenifere in Jibowu, Lagos, those opposed to him proclaimed Fasanmi as the deputy leader. Fasoranti and Fasanmi joined the AG in 1951.
Adesanya left behind a divided Yoruba race. He did not inherit a fully united race as leader. More importantly, he left behind a divided Afenifere. In post-Adesanya era, progressives in Yorubaland have continued to work at cross purpose. They have refused to rise beyond the personality clashes of the past. Although the 80th birthday of Adebanjo should have provided the opportunity for reunion, the opportunity was bungled. Adebanjo attributed all the crises to the Tinubus and Osobas of this world.
Efforts to reconcile the camps by the members of the Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG), led by Hon. Wale Oshun, had proved abortive. However, the recent visit to the Akure home of Fasoranti by Tinubu, who is the pillar of the Fasanmi/Akande/Osoba/Durojaye faction of Afenifere, and Tinubu’s presence at the 90th birthday of Adebanjo in Lagos give a ray of hope about reconciliation.
Two years ago, Fasoranti threatened to resigned as leader. He complained about indiscipline in the organisation. He was prevailed upon by members who promised to turn a new leaf.
What future for Afenifere? Many people believe that reconciliation is the solution. There is strength in unity. According to them, if Afenifere reconciles, cultural groups in other geo-political zone will become jittery and accord Yoruba more respect.
