The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Afenifere

  • Omisore’s return polarises Afenifere

    •Adebanjo, Ajayi, Okurounmu shun meetings

    The return of former Osun State Deputy Governor Iyiola Omisore to a faction of the Afenifere has unsettled the pan-Yoruba socio-political group.

    Prominent leaders of the Pa Rueben Fasoranti-led faction, including Sir Olaniwun Ajayi, Chief Ayo Adebanjo and Dr. Femi Okunrounmu, have been shunning the group’s meetings.

    They have vowed not to have any dealing with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain.

    The trio demanded explanation from Fasoranti for the senator’s romance with the organisation.

    Trouble started in Akure, the Ondo State capital, when Omisore was invited to the group’s meeting at Fasoranti’s home. A source said Adebanjo, an associate of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, was alarmed that the group’s leaders were not consulted before the senator was invited.

    But others – Fasoranti, Chief Olu Falae, Chief Supo Sonibare, Chief Korede Duyile and the Publicity Secretary, Mr. Yinka Odumakin – did not raise any eyebrow.

    The source said: “Chief Adebanjo never hid his feelings on principle and ideology. He was enraged. He questioned Omisore’s presence at the crucial reconciliation meeting. He demanded an explanation that could not be convincingly offered. He threatened to leave the meeting, but he was pacified. One of the leaders told him that the purpose of the meeting, which was reconciliation, would be defeated, if another quarrel ensued over Omisore’s presence. Adebanjo was not satisfied with the shallow explanation.”

    According to the source, Okunrounmu resigned orally, complaining that Afenifere had derailed from the vision of its founding fathers.

    The group has selected a renowned writer, Bashorun Sehinde Arogbofa, as its new secretary.

    The source said: “Ondo State Governor Olusegun Mimiko is Omisore’s friend. The governor has influence on Akure-based Afenifere leaders and he may have pleaded with them to accommodate the senator.

    “The group usually supports a political party during elections and Omisore wants to contest the Osun State governorship election. But young members of the group are also asking questions.”

    When Afenifere held its State of the Nation Conference in Lagos recently, Ajayi, Adebanjo and Okunrounmu shunned the event. Omisore sat on the high table with Fasoranti, Falae and Sonibare. Members of the group, who pleaded for anonymity, said the leaders said they stayed away to avoid embarrassment and save their reputation.

    At the press conference held at the Lagos Airport Hotel, Ikeja, some chieftains of the group, including Falae, Sonibare and Arogbofa, defended Omisore’s presence, saying that as a Yoruba person, the gates of the organisation cannot be shut against him.

    Falae said Omisore never left Afenifere, although he resigned as Osun State deputy governor and left the Alliance for Democracy (AD), adding that he was only a dormant member of the group.

    A few weeks ago, the Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG), dissociated itself from the Akure meeting and rejected Omisore’s move to hobnob with the organisation.

    Its leader, Mr. Wale Oshun, said: “With Omisore in Afenifere, Awolowo, Ajasin, Adesanya and Bola Ige will turn in their graves.”

  • 2015: PDP woos Afenifere

    2015: PDP woos Afenifere

    Prominent members of the Peoples Democratic Peoples Party (PDP) in the Southwest are teaming up with the polarised pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, to fight for power in the zone. Currently, the region is the stronghold of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).

    There are two groups struggling for the soul of the organisation. The first group is led by the former Commissioner for Finance in Ondo State, Chief Rueben Fasoranti. The second is led by the deputy leader, Senator Ayo Fasanmi. Reconciliation broke down between the two camps, almost four years ago. Although the representatives of the factions were brought to the reconciliation table at Ibadan, Oyo State capital, by the younger elements who have formed the Afenifere Renewal group (ARG), they could not achieve a truce. Also, efforts to reconcile them by the wife of the late sage, Mrs. HID Awolowo, failed.

    At the recent meeting of the faction led by Fasoranti in Lagos, many PDP chieftains were in attendance, although the key leaders; Chiefs Fasoranti, Sir Olaniwun Ajayi, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Olu Falae, Oladipo Olaitan, and Supo Sonibare, are progressives and critics of the PDP-led Federal Government.

    At the Lagos meeting were Senator Iyiola Omisore, Alhaji Rahman Owokoniran, Hon. Segun Ojo, Mr. Kayode Alufa, Chief Ladosu Ladapo, Akogun Tunde Odanye and Mr. Jimi Agbaje, who is being wooed by the Lagos PDP to contest the next governorship on its platform. A source said that the Fasoranti’s group enjoys the backing of the Ondo State Governor Olusegun Mimiko, who has secured a second term. Between 1999 and 2003, Afenifere did not open its door to the chieftains of the PDP, which they perceived as a conservative party.

    However, the members of the Fasanmi’s group belong to the ACN, which is in the merger process with the All Nigeria Peoples Party (PDP), the Congress for Progressives Change (CPC) and a section of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) to form the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    Prominent members of the faction include Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Aremo Olusegun Osoba, Chief Bisi Akande, Prince Tajudeen Olusi, Alhaji Olatunji Hamzat, Senator Olabiyi Durojaye, Otunba Busura Alebiosu, Prince Abiodun Ogunleye, and Hon. Odunsi. In fact, all the ACN chieftains in the Southwest identify with the Fasanmi’s group. Currently, the members of Fasanmi camp are in the government in the region.

    In 2007, the Afenifere leaders in Fasoranti’s group supported the PDP governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel. In 2011, they also supported Daniel’s candidate for the governorship, Mr. Gboyega Isiaka. It was a wide departure from 2003, when the former secretary of the group, Mr. Ayo Opadokun, was criticised for fraternity with former ANPP Governor Mohammed Lawal of Kwara State. Last year, they also supported Governor Mimiko’s re-election bid.

    Southwest PDP members are courting Afenifere at a time the party is becoming increasingly unpopular in the zone. But the source said that the party is ready to pump money into the mobilisation against the ACN. “The fund for the election is not going to be a problem. The PDP Federal Government is showing a special interest in the zone. PDP wants to adopt two strategies. The first is to get aggrieved, credible and popular candidates to run for the governorship elections in the region and get Afenifere to back them on the platform of the PDP. That is why both Chief Bode George and Prince Adeseye Ogunlewe are now on the neck of Agbaje. At every election, Afenifere usually supports candidates and political parties.

    “The second strategy is to encourage other parties outside ACN to compete with the ACN in the zone. It is worthy of note that, after securing the pipeline monitoring contract from the Federal Government, some Southwest leaders started talking about the resuscitation of the UPN. They are not happy with the soaring profile of Tinubu and they want to get their pound of fresh from Osoba”, added the source.

    The group’s posturing has affected its image among the people of the Southwest. Unlike the pre-2003 period, Afenifere is perceived as a toothless bulldog, which can only bark but not bite. In fact, in 2003, the group supported the four AD governors; the late Adebayo Adefarati (Ondo), the late Lam Adesina (Oyo), Akande (Osun), and Osoba (Ogun). They lost to their PDP challengers; Dr. Olusegun Agaggu, Senator Rashidi Ladoja, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola and Otunba Daniel. The lone survivor, Tinubu, was deserted by the Afenifere chieftains, following the rejection of the 60:40 formula for the distribution of the appointive and elective offices in Lagos State. He handed over to Governor Babatunde Fashola in 2007. Also, in 2007, Tinubu spearheaded the struggle for the liberation of the Southwest from the PDP. Today, five out of the six states are governed by the ACN governors.

    Recently, ARG leader Hon. Olawale Oshun had alerted the region to the antics of certain forces bent on encouraging the emergence of new parties to create confusion in the zone. He said those behind the idea were working assiduously with the PDP, which has the intention of re-capturing the Southwest in 2015. A sources said that the PDP chieftains are exploiting the division in the Afenifere to penetrate into the fold and swing the support of the Fasoranti camp to the PDP candidates in the next elections.

    Falae ruled out any alliance with the PDP, although he agreed that PDP members can now take their seats in the group. This admission flexibility contrasted sharply with the picture of Afenifere between 1999 and 2002. For example, members of the group rationalised that the presence of Omisore at the Afenifere meeting was not strange. “He has been a member, but dormant for some time. He only left AD, not Afenifere”, said a chieftain.

     

     

  • Afenifere slams Ahmadu Ali for comments on Yoruba

    A pan-Yoruba group, Afenifere, has criticised comments made by a former Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Col. Ahmadu Ali (rtd.) about the Yoruba in a newspaper.

    Ali described the Yoruba as “ungrateful”.

    In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Yinka Odumakin, Afenifere said: “Ali’s grouse about the Yoruba is that they would not worship his god (former President Olusegun Obasanjo). That was why he demonised them as a ‘totally ungrateful kind of people in this country’.

    “This type of remark against a people is totally unbecoming of Ali, who we thought was a cultured man, having come from Igala Kingdom, which has centuries of civilisation behind it.

    “We ordinarily would have ignored his vituperations, but for two reasons:

    (i)Given his profile as a former chairman of the ruling party and a failed aspirant to the chairmanship of its Board of Trustees, the unwary may be tempted to assume that the words he spoke came from a wise and highly informed man.

    (ii)Ali has touched on a deep cultural value of the Yoruba people – appreciation. The Yoruba value an appreciative spirit to the point of criminalising an ungrateful person in the saying ‘eni ti a se lore ti ko dupe, bi olosa ko ni leru lo ni (an ingrate is not different from a thief)’. They also link continuous blessings to appreciation of past ones. A saying goes that ‘bi omode ba dupe ore ana, a ri mi gba” (someone who appreciates past blessings would attract new ones).

    “From the above, it is crystal clear that Ali has no lesson to teach the Yoruba in the art of gratitude.

    “For Ali and those who think like him, the Yoruba do not venerate mere positions, but leadership through service to the community. This explains why the Yoruba adore the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, who contested the highest office in the land three times and lost, and resent Ali’s hero, who occupied the same office three times!

    “The difference is that as the Premier of the old Western Region, the late Awolowo used the resources of the region to banish ignorance through free education, eliminated diseases through free health, introduced a television culture to the Yoruba even before France and made the Yoruba aim for the sky by building the 25-storey Cocoa House in Ibadan, among others.

    “In contrast, the years Ali’s hero spent as a leader of Nigeria institutionalised corruption, which deepened poverty for all Nigerians, including the Yoruba. The poverty index in Nigeria was 45 per cent in 1999 and jumped to 67 per cent in 2007, despite unprecedented oil earnings in the same period. The culture of begging, which was alien in Yorubaland, became pronounced under the leadership of the man Ali wants the Yoruba to worship.

    “In the 11 years Ali’s god spent as Nigeria’s President, Yoruba can point to nothing in their region that rivals the least of Awo’s achievements. That is why they have no gratitude for a man who was positioned to give quality leadership to his country, but left it worse than he met it.

    “Ahmadu Ali is free to build a shrine for his god in his Igala Kingdom, but he would never be the one to choose a hero for the Yoruba. Talking of gratitude, is there anything the Yoruba owe Ali? They remain ‘grateful’ to him in memory of Akintunde Ojo and other promising students who were murdered in cold blood during the ‘Ali Must Go” crisis of 1978, when Ali was Obasanjo’s Education Minister.”

     

  • Afenifere chieftain: Centenary celebration not necessary

    Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG) chieftain Mr. Dipo Famakinwa has objected to the proposed centenary celebration, saying that it lacks justification.

    He told our correspondent in Lagos that Nigeriia has not become a nation, since it was forcefully amalgamated by Lord Fredrick Lugard in 1914.

    Famakinwa said the celebration may become another jamboree, urging Nigerians to reject the proposals.

    The ARG chieftain wondered why the federal government was planning to devote its time and energy to funfair at the expense of governance for nine months.

    He argued that, if Jonathan Administration had lived up to expectation, Nigerians would have been enthusiastic about the celebration.

    Famakinwa lamented the lack of focus by the government, adding that the President who had ruled out a Sovereign National Conference was proposing a celebration of imaginary unity.

    He said: “What is Nigeria celebrating at 100? Is Nigeria a nation or nation-state? Are we living in peace,unity and harmony? Instead of discussing the basis for peaceful co-existence, government is proposing a jamboree. We need to tell the President that centenary celebration is not the answer to the problem of under-development in Nigeria”.

    Famakinwa urged the President to reflect on the prediction by an international agency that the country may disintegrate, if certain measures are not taken.

    He added: “The answer lies in the convocation of a national conference to resolve the outstanding issues gernmane to peaceful co-exixtence”.

  • Afenifere: Yoruba is marginalised

    A pan-yoruba group, the Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG), yesterday alleged that the Yoruba has been marginalised by the President Goodluck Jonathan Administration.

    It urged the Federal Government and the Federal Character Commission to correct the alleged injustice in recruitment and appointments into critical sectors of the economy.

    The group said recruitments and appointments at the federal level are being manipulated to favour some geo-political zones.

    ARG National Chairman Mr. Olawale Oshun told reporters in Lagos that the group would petition the Federal Character Commission.

    He said: “The Yoruba demand to know why the discrimination against us is on the increase. We note with verifiable evidence that most routine appointments and recruitment into the public service in this administration completely short-change our people.

    “For instance, of the 792 cadet officers recently recruited for training at the Customs Training College (CTC) in Kano, only 45 were from the Southwest. One hundred and sixty eight cadets were from the Northcenral, 157 from the Northeast, 91 from the Southsouth and 68 from the Southeast.

    “The evidence before us shows that 5.8 per cent of the cadets are from the Southwest, while the Northwest took the lion’s share of 33.1 per cent. What exactly is happening here?

    “The report of the ‘ethnic cleansing’ going on in the Aviation Ministry is fast reaching an alarming proportion! Recently, we got reports that most of the key people sacked at the ministry are of Yoruba extraction.

    “Findings indicate that of the 75 appointments made, 49 of the appointees are from the Southeast. The illogical justification offered for this decision is that it is in line with the ongoing transformation agenda. Is the marginalisation of a people the new definition of transformation?

    “Our younger generation are asking us to define the meaning of ‘Federal Character’ when appointments and recruitments at the federal level are being manipulated to favour some geo-political zones to the exclusion of the Yoruba.

    “We are alerting the whole world that Nigeria’s problems are not limited to governance. There is a calculated attempt to relegate the Yoruba to the background, which does not augur well for the country’s development. While it is not in Yoruba character to seek to dominate, enslave or push for unfair advantages against other people, we will not accept a situation where we would be deprived of what rightly belongs to us .

    “Our concern is equity, fairness and justice for all, and if these qualities of ours are our offences against the rest of Nigeria, we have no apologies.

    “We urge the Federal Character Commission to wake up from its slumber and right the wrongs that are being perpetuated by opportunists in high positions. We urge the commission to investigate all these allegations of discrimination against the Yoruba, especially in the civil service appointments and promotions, and we dare it to publish its findings.

    “We are prepared to pursue our legitimate right without minding whose ox is gored. We will no longer fold our arms and watch people with curious agenda deprive our people of what rightly belongs to them, unless they are saying this country only belongs to certain categories of people or certain sections of the country.

    “As a starting point, our group will be presenting an official protest letter to the Federal Character Commission, not only to formally bring these issues to their attention, but to also seek appropriate remedy.

    “While we do not contend with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led government on the way it chooses to share government positions and political appointments, facts on ground show that the Jonathan administration is bent on the complete marginalisation of the Yoruba from the scheme of things and we will resist it.”

  • Yoruba marginalised, says Afenifere

    The Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG) yesterday said the President Goodluck Jonathan administration has neglected the Southwest.

    It said the Yoruba nation has never had it this bad, with none of its sons or daughters holding one of the top seven positions in the country.

    In a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kunle Famoriyo, ARG said: “Yoruba is blessed with highly qualified hands and brains that can be in positions of authority and responsibilities. However, they have been slaughtered at the altar of marginalisation in Abuja.

    “Things are now so worrisome that our younger generation is asking us to redefine the true meaning of ‘Federal Character’, which has not made a South westerner the General Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) since its inception.

    “A recent example is at the Ministry of Aviation, where some of the key people recently sacked are Yoruba. Findings have also indicated that, of about 75 recent appointments made, approximately 49 of them are from the Southeast alone.

    “The illogical justification offered for this decision was that this was in line with the on-going transformation agenda. Is the marginalisation of a people the new definition of transformation?

    “ARG demands that the President carries out a root and branch review of key positions across all government parastatals and ensure that competent hands are in charge, whilst ensuring that no particular ethnic group is marginalised.

    “We demand that an urgent and positive step must be taken about this issue before Nigeria dissipates. Common sense dictates that you employ your best tools to tackle a task. Yoruba people are the most reliable hands, if Nigeria truly wants to achieve national transformation.”