The pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, is fraternising with strange bedfellows, judging by its romance with President Goodluck Jonathan and the Labour Party (LP), ahead of 2015. The regional organisation is now exhibiting a fascination for manistream politics, report EMMANUEL OLADESU and LEKE SALAUDEEN.
The Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, is struggling for relevance. In a desperate bid to halt its journey to the oblivion, the organisation is making friends with elements and groups clearly opposed to its ideological orientation. Unlike the past, Afenifere is now jettisoning its position as a virile opposition bloc. The group is now in love with mainstream politics.
Recently, leaders of the group visited President Goodluck Jonathan at the Aso Villa, Abuja. The visit was to the embattled President and convey their approval for the proposed national conference. Remarkably, one of the top chieftains of Afenifere, Dr. Femi Okurounmu, chaired the Presidential Advisory Committee on National Dialogue.
The visit was widely publicised. During the visit, the members of the Afenifere faction under the leadership of the Deputy Leader, Senator Ayo Fasanmi, were also on a road show the Southwest chieftains of the All Progressives Congress (APC), they were working harmoniously with like minds across the six geo-political zones to effect change in 2015. Therefore, while the Fasoranti-led faction is building support for the conservative Federal Government, their estranged colleagues are dedicated to power shift.
Besides, Afenifere is fraternising with the Labour Party (LP), with a view to adopting it as a veritable political platform. Apart from welcoming into its fold controversial PDP politicians, the group is making frantic efforts to join forces against the APC in the Southwest, where its influence is already ebbing away.
Between 2003 and now, Afenifere has been in the political wilderness. While the group supported the five Alliance for Democracy (AD) governors, it worked against the second term ambition of former Governor Bola Tinubu of Lagos State. The five governors did not survive the onslaught by the PDP. But, Tinubu survived. In 2007, Afenifere floated the Democratic Peoples Alliance (DPA). In Lagos State, the party had a good governorship candidate, Mr. Jimi Agbaje. But, the old Afenifere warriors lacked the mobilisation prowess.
Last year, Afenifere struck a deal with the Ondo State LP to spite its members in the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). Despite the fact that it had become public knowledge that the LP had become an arm of the PDP, the pan-Yoruba group endorsed the party. Now, as the next election draws near, speculations are rife that the associates of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo are preparing to endorse President Jonathan for a second term, despite his poor performance in the last three years.
Afenifere has a proud history. Under the leadership of the late Chief Adekunle Ajasin and Senator Abraham Adesanya, the group waged war against the military rule. Afenifere leaders were molested, unjustly detained and exiled by the military and yet, they stood their grounds. The late Adesanya narrowly escaped assassination during the struggle. Ironically, the organisation decided to participate in the transition programme hurriedly put together by the military without examining the flawed 1999 Constitution, which has now become an impediment to the federal democracy.
However, shortly before the restoration of civil rule in 1999, the leaders were locked in a protracted battle. The group was confronted by two crises. On one hand, the late Chief Bola Ige, the deputy leader of the group, parted ways with his colleagues because they rejected him at the D’Rovans, Ibadan and voted for Chief Olu Falae during the AD presidential primaries. Ige joined the Federal Executive Council (FEC) under President Olusegun Obasanjo without consulting with Afenifere. He never came back alive. Also, the late Chief Ganiyu Dawodu and Tinubu parted went their separate ways in Lagos. Efforts to mend fences through the proposed 60:40 formula recommended by a panel headed by Sir Olaniwun Ajayi failed. The grassroots politician, Dawodu, was bitter. He left the AD for PAC. On the eve of the 2003 polls, he directed his supporters to vote for the PDP candidate, the late Mr. Funso Williams.
It was distressing to Adesanya that he could not get the two sides to agree. The Leader was even accused of shielding Tinubu from the wrath of the group. When Adesanya took ill, he never recovered. Following his death, a leadership crisis broke out in the group. Fasoranti was acting as the leader. But, when he recognised Senator Mojisoluwa Akinfenwa as the AD National Chairman against his compatriot from Osun State, Chief Bisi Akande, the group split into two. The faction rejected Fasoranti’s leadership and pronounced Senator Ayo Fasanmi as the Deputy Leader.
Despite its achievements, Afenifere’s growth has been retarded by its lack of crisis resolution mechanism. This was evident in the non-resolution of the Ige/Falae, Dawodu/Tinubu, Tinubu/Kofoworola-Bucknor, Akande/Iyiola Omisore, Adebayo Adefarati/Olusegun Mimiko, Akande/Akinfenwa and Adeniyi Adebayo/Adefarati rifts. In fact, between 2003 and 2007, many Afenifere chieftains left the AD for the PDP and plotted the downfall of the party that brought them into limelight.
Since then, there has been a clash of ego and interests in Yorubaland. While Afenifere’s political influence nosedived in the Southwest, the members of the Fasanmi faction emerged as the dominant political establishment in the region. Tinubu, Akande, Osoba, Adebayo, Fasanmi, Olabiyi Durojaye, Olawale Osun, Rauf Aregbesola, and Kayode Fayemi fought the liberation war in the Southwest, when they sent the PDP packing. But, instead of forging unity, the Fasoranti and Fasanmi groups have continued to work at cross purposes. Efforts by the younger elements who later established the Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG) to resolve the protracted crises and reconcile the two factions have also failed.
Falae, who lamented the lingering crisis, could not proffer solution to it. Speaking in Akure, he recalled that the split in the group, which started in the AD, later extended to the Afenifere. He said the AD governors felt aggrieved when Afenifere set up a committee headed by Prof Bolaji Akinyemi to assess their performance. “The purpose was to make sure that the governors delivered what they promised the electorate. People voted for the Afenifere, not the AD or an individual. All we were doing was to protect the legacy of the group”, he said.
Falae alleged that the governors also exempted the Afenifere in their second term calculation by deciding that the AD would not field a presidential candidate in 2003 without asking consultation with him as the former candidate. “They entered into a deal with Obasanjo that they would support and campaign for his re-election in 2003, which they did. They (AD governors) lost, with the exemption of Tinubu. After the election that swept them out of power, they couldn’t come back to the fold,” he added.
But Fasanmi had a contrary opinion. He blamed the crisis on the personal ambition of the leaders of the other group. “We tried to mend fences at a stage, but the ambition of their members in the AD led to the disintegration of the party and the Afenifere. Adesanya singlehandedly picked Fasoranti as the acting leader when he had health challenges. I was elected Afenifere leader after Adesanya’s death.
“At a stage, we set up a reconciliation committee to bring both factions together. I was the chairman of the group. What we agreed on was that Fasoranti should be the leader and I should be the deputy. That arrangement did not stand the test of time because of the inordinate ambition of the Fasoranti group. I warned them that, if we have to introduce politics into dialogue, we have to be very careful. Fasoranti was my long time friend. We were together at the Action Group national conference in Jos in 1962. Ayo Adebanjo is my friend. I feel sad when people like Fasoranti and Adebanjo are not with us”, he said.
The Lagos State Chairman of Afenifere, Chief Supo Sonibare, said that “the problem of Afenifere has to do with the dynamics of having core leaders who are not in government and having governors who are effectively heads of government”.
“At the time of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, he wielded the power of the head of government and leader of the Afenifere simultaneously. When he was no longer the Premier, there was the aspiration of becoming the Prime Minister as the leader of the opposition then.
“In the present Afenifere, we have leaders who are not in government and governors who are heads of government. The leaders could only use moral persuasion and cannot compel any governor to do their biddings. That dichotomy of power brought about the discord and the split in Afenifere. This division was managed by the late Chief Adesanya. His successor, Chief Fasoranti, presided over meetings without both factions of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) in attendance”, he said.
The ARG leader, Oshun, said the dispute among the Afenifere leaders manifested in the subversion of the AD. He said some Afenifere declared support for Obasanjo’s second term, adding that the former President supported Akinfenwa for the AD chairmanship.
“Three years after the 2003 election, we young elements-myself, Ayo Afolabi, Kunle Famoriyo, Yinka Odumakin, Kayode Fayemi, Jimi Agbaje and Dr Adeniji-started meeting and came to the conclusion that we should not allow the dichotomy to continue. We organised a reconciliation meeting at the IITA, Ibadan. Both sides were fully represented. I could remember Akande, Falae, Adebanjo and Niyi Adebayo were present at the meeting. They agreed to sink their differences and work together as a group.
“Few weeks after, Adebanjo in a press interview, lambasted the former governors over the Afenifere crisis. Thus, the reconciliation floundered again. It was at that point that we younger elements met and decided to float the Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG) in isolation of both the Afenifere leaders and the former governors”, he said.
A recent reconciliation meeting organised by the Fasoranti group in Akure, the Ondo State capital, was boycotted by the ARG. The Oshun group distanced itself from reports that it was involved in a meeting where members of the group reconciled with Afenifere leaders.
Analysts say reconciliation may still be a long way off. Spirited peace moves by the late Justice Kayode Eso, Bishop Ayo Ladigbolu and Bishop Bolanle Gbonigi to reconcile the two factions have also hit the rock. The obstacle to reconciliation now is the conflict of political interest. The reality is that, despite the fact that leaders on both sides are committed to Yoruba interest, they are now adopting antagonistic approaches.
Falae said that reconciliation is still possible. “There is no reason we cannot reconcile if the interest of our people is paramount. We the Yorubas don’t count at the centre. We must come together for the sake of our race. If we reconcile, what do we lose? Without reconciliation, we are wasting our time”, he added.
Fasanmi shared Falae’s view on reconciliation. He recalled what the late Chief Solanke Onasanya, a chieftain of Afenifere, used to say: “When I die and meet Chief Awolowo in heaven, what would I tell him about the Afenifere?” I too have been asking myself the same question. There is nothing impossible. If PDP governors can change their minds and team up with the progressives, I think reconciliation in the Afenifere is possible”.
Sonibare also said that reconciliation in Afenifere is feasible. “If countries that fought wars were able to reconcile, why not Afenifere factions?”, he queried. However, he identofied the condition for reconciliation. “Reconciliation in Afenifere is possible where both parties go to reconciliation table with open mind”, Sonibare said.
