There is disquiet in the fold of Afenifere following Sunday’s resignation of its leader, Pa Reuben Fasoranti. Group Political Editor EMMANUEL OLADESU and ENITAN SERIKI look at the consequences of the exit of the octogenarian politician. They write that this is not the best of times for the pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation.
SHOCK and disbelief were the expressions on the faces of notable Afenifere chieftains yesterday. It was over the resignation of Pa Rueben Fasoranti as the leader of the pan-Yoruba socio-political group.
They content that the resignation of the octogenarian will create a leadership vacuum, which may ultimately stir a crisis within the group.
But, to the Publicity Secretary of the organization, Mr. Yinka Odumakin, there is no cause for alarm as the situation remains under control. According to him, chieftains of the organisation would soon meet to deliberate on the issue and on other matters germane to the welfare of the Yoruba race.
Acknowledging the resignation, he said: “Consultations are still on among members of the organisation. We are going to meet soon over the matter. We will come out with a position. We are on top of it.”
Odumakin has an ally in Afenifere chieftain, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, who said there is nothing strange in Fasoranti’s resignation.
Announcing his resignation on Sunday, Pa Fasoranti, said he was calling it quit with the group because the goals of its founding fathers “are gradually being eroded.”
However, Adebanjo, disputed the claim and insisted that Fasoranti stepped on account of old age. According to him, it was untrue that the group is enmeshed in crisis, maintaining that there is nothing unusual about the resignation.
Adebanjo said: “He (Fasoranti) is old. He is 89. That is why he resigned. Papa Ajasin and Adesanya did not attain that ripe old age. Pa Fasoranti said the youths don’t listen to elders again and that you behave as you like. When Ajasin was weak, he asked Adesanya to act. When Adesanya took ill, we appointed him (Fasoranti) as leader. There is nothing unusual about that. We have no crisis. The man has been sick (ill) of late. He just left the hospital few days ago. The job is rigorous. We hold a lot of meetings. Go and read his statement.
“We will meet and appoint a new leader. When we get to the meeting, we will attend to the vacancy. When we meet, we will appoint a new leader. I can’t tell you how a new leader will emerge until we meet at the meeting.”
Fasoranti, a Second Republic Commissioner for Finance in Ondo State, joined Afenifere at inception in 1951, under the leadership of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo. He succeeded Senator Abraham Adesanya, who passed on eight years ago. He was selected as the acting leader by a section of the organisation when the leader took ill.
When the organisation split into two, following the ‘Akure Declaration’ by Fasoranti that Senator Mojisoluwa Akinfenwa, and not Chief Bisi Akande, was the National Chairman of the Alliance for Democracy (AD), aggrieved Afenifere chieftains, including Akande, Aremo Olusegun Osoba, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Senator Biyi Durojaye, Pa Olatunji Hamzat, Prince Tajudeen Olusi, Otunba Niyi Adebayo, the late Alhaji Lam Adesina, and Chief Michael Koleoso, picked a Second Republic Senator, Pa Ayo Fasanmi, as the deputy leader.
Fasoranti was later proclaimed as the leader by the faction. Key members of the Fasoranti faction include: Sir Olaniwun Ajayi, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Senator Femi Okunrounmu, Basorun Sehinde Arogbofa, Chief Korede Duyile, Dr. Fredrick Fasehun, Senator Mojisoluwa Akinfenwa and Chief Olu Falae. The division between the two camps was exhibited during the burial of Pa Adesanya at Ijebu-Igbo when the chieftains were locked in a bitter struggle for supremacy.
But, the younger elements, led by Mr. Wale Oshun, a Third Republic House of Representatives Chief Whip, formed the Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG), which tried in vain to reconcile the two factions led by Fasoranti and Fasanmi. ARG members include: Dr. Kayode Fayemi, Mr. Ayo Afolabi, Mr. Segun Odegbami, Mrs Toke Benson and Mr. Kunle Famoriyo. A prominent member of the ARG, Mr. Jimi Agbaje, left the group, following his defection to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
As the leadership crisis that engulfed the organisation in post-Adesanya era escalated, other Afenifere intellectuals and compatriots – Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi, Dr. Dapo Fafowora, Gen. Alani Akinrinade – quietly distanced themselves from the crisis in the fold and embraced other platforms for raising the national question germane to peaceful co-existence among the diverse ethnic groups making up the heterogeneous country.
Hope of reconciliation between the two camps was bright during the preparations for the anniversary of Pa Adebanjo’s 80th birthday. But, a highly inflammable media interview granted by the combative politician in which blamed the crisis on Tinubu, Osoba and past Allinace for Democracy (AD) governors, aborted the reconciliatory moves. No a few chieftains in the Fasanmi faction, believed the tone of Adebanjo’s interview bungled the effort.
Afenifere’s National Secretary, Arogbofa, who was reluctant to comment on Fasoranti’s resignation, urged calm, saying that there is no crisis in the group. The renowned educationist and author said: “We should be patient. We are discussing. We are consulting. I won’t say more than that.”
Falae, former Secretary to a Federal Military Government and one-time Minister of Finance, also declined comment. He said: “At this stage, there is no comment. Give us some time. We are sorting some matters out. There is no need for comment at this stage.”
Fasoranti gave three reasons for his resignation. Apart from citing old age, he chided the chieftains for disloyalty. The octogenarian also lamented that the organisation has derailed from the vision of its founding fathers, including Awolowo, Chief S.O. Sonibare, Chief Michael Ajasin, Chief Bola Ige, Pa Solanke Onasanya and Pa Emmanuel Alayande – all deceased.
Unlike other ethnic nationalities, Yoruba have lacked a united and cohesive socio-political group for interest articulation since the death of Chief Adesanya. Consequently, many observers believed that the once vibrant mouthpiece has been battling with a fading influence in the polity. During the last election, the organisation, against the run of public opinion, adopted former President Goodluck Jonathan, the candidate of a conservative PDP, for a second term, thereby mocking its pedigree and antecedent as a progressive mouthpiece.
The place of Fasoranti in history
Fasoranti will be remembered as a gentleman who became the leader of Afenifere at a very challenging period. Some chieftains, loyal to the Fasanmi group, alleged that he could not easily resist the manipulative tendency of vocal and influential members, whose activities and combativeness led to the split in the organisation.
Although he joined the group at its inception, Fasoranti, a pioneer student of the University College, Ibadan, where he joined the Action Group (AG) Youth Association, combined his teaching profession with grassroots politics. He was a councillor at the old Akure Local Council. As he served as school principals in Oyo, Iwo, Osogbo, Ado-Ekiti and Iju/Ita-Ogbolu. He was an active member of the Committee of Friends, which metamorphosed to the defunct Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN). Although, Ajasin wanted to make him his running mate in 1979, the late Awolowo advised him to give the role to the late Chief Akin Omoboriowo for ethnic balancing. In Akure, he is a great community leader held in high esteem. He is a patriot and incorruptible leader.
As the factional leader of Afenifere, Fasoranti used the platform to articulate the Yoruba interest. He flayed the Jonathan administration for the marginalisation of the race in the distribution of federal appointments. He also lamented the implications of the disunity in Yorubaland, particularly among Afenifere members, although he could not muster the strength to foster harmony.
“We have now been relegated to the sidelines precisely because we have lost our unity and focus, and others no longer think they will lose anything, if they do not reckon with us,” he said. Ironically, he later threw his weight behind the immediate past administration, saying that the former President promised to implement the report of the National Conference.
Collectively, Afenifere members are united by its fundamental goals. These are even beyond the promotion of the narrow Yoruba interest. In his book titled:”The kiss of death: Afenifere and the infidels,” Oshun listed the objectives to include the fight for true and sustainable federalism, resource sharing based on derivation, respect, equality and equity for all nationalities, greater autonomy reflecting in the creation of state police and the power to determine the development priorities of their respective people.
According to observers, there is no evidence that the split in the Yoruba group has ideological connotation. Ajayi, Adebanjo, the late Chief Wumi Adegbonmire, Okunrounmu, Fasanmi, Durojaye, Akande, Adesina, Koleoso, Osoba, Tinubu, Oshun, Hamzat, Segun Adegoke, and Akin Omojola are advocates of federalism and restructuring. The point of departure is the endless personality clashes.
This decade has been turbulent for Afenifere. What is worrisome is the lack of crisis resolution mechanism within the organisation. The bane of the group may also be its lack of consistency. In 2008, Fasoranti declared: “We have now decided to throw the membership of Afenifere open to all Yoruba people above 18 years, regardless of party affiliations, provided they accept the Afenifere credo of making the welfare of the individual citizen the main purpose of government.” Many picked holes in this new approach. The issue then was the difficulty of political habitation in Afenifere by members of the progressive and conservative political parties.
A source said that Fasoranti may be persuaded to withdraw his resignation letter. But, prominent Akure indigenes doubt the possibility of a u-turn.
Challenges for
Fasoranti’s successor
No doubt, Fasoranti’s successor would inherit the same challenges that confronted his leadership. These are the strife and rancour in the larger Afenifere, its loss of ideological purity and clarity, lack of crisis resolution mechanism, lack of forgiving spirit among its leaders and perception of the umbrella group as a weak mouthpiece for the Yoruba nation.
Can Fasoranti’s successor unite Afenifere, breathe a new life into the organisation and relaunch it as a credible, trusted and tested regional mouthpiece? Only time will tell.
From a foundation of forthrightness to tradition of inconsistency
AFenifere of yore had a beautiful history. The miracle of development under the late political sage Chief Obafemi Awolowo in the old Western region is traceable to the group. During the military rule, it opposed dictatorship. From its base in the Southwest, the group fired salvos at the soldiers of fortune. Afenifere leaders were rugged nationalists. They were steadfast, committed democrats and unbending pro-democracy crusaders. Many of them defiled the military bullets. Their leaders were harassed, detained and exiled by the power that be. But they did not desert the battle field out. They were men of principle and conviction.
The late chiefs Adekunle Ajasin, Abraham Adesanya and other compatriots were thorns in the flesh of the military neo-colonialists, who held the country to ransom. The group was not deficient in honour, integrity and credibility. The apex leadership also commanded the respect of the six geo-political zones.
But, shortly after the restoration of civil rule in 1999, the group lost its common voice. And since then, Afenifere has been in a fix. Things appear to have fallen apart and the centre could no longer hold. The once thriving, potent and vibrant umbrella organisation, which had its ascendancy in Awolowo political school of thought, has become a shadow of itself. The cord in the family has been severed. The chieftains are today scattered across the political parties. They are locked in the battle for power. To say that the group is in disarray would be an understatement. The group has lost its bite and nobody longer catches cold whenever it sneezes. To observers, the pan-Yoruba group has become a toothless bull dog.
Afenifere would have lost relevance long ago but for the management of the self-induced stress when the late Adesanya held the forte. The Ijebu-Igbo-born lawyer deployed his wisdom and wielded the two blocs – Ajayi/Adebanjo and Ige tendencies in unsteady cohabitation. It is ironic that the group that fought for democracy failed to manage the achievement.
In 1999, the group installed five governors in the Southwest under the umbrella of the AD. By 2003, only Tinubu, who was viewed by the group as rebel survived the tremor by retaining Lagos. His governor colleagues – Adesina (Oyo), Osoba (Ogun), Adebayo (Ekiti) and Akande (Osun) and Adebayo (Ondo) – lost the battle for second term despite the support they got from the organisation.
Afenifere leaders also made a political mistake in their support for Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s second term bid. The General dealt a terrible blow to Afenifere/AD in the Southwest, where he unseated all the AD governments but one.
According to observers, the intra-group crises were in phases. It finally culminated in polarisation. Two irreconcilable factions have wobbled on in inexplicable antagonism. The first group, backed by the residual class of “Ijebu Mafia,” is led by Fasoranti. At a time, the faction was backed by former Ogun State Governor Gbenga Daniel. The second faction is led by Fasanmi, an Awoist. Both Fasoranti and Fasanmi were not only compatriots but contemporaries in the old AG. Fasanmi’s faction is the majority Afenifere. But, no regular meeting of the faction takes place. But, Fasoranti’s faction has never failed to hold regular meetings.
The 2011 governorship election was a litmus test for the two factional leaders. The Fasoranti camp campaigned for candidates running on the platform of Daniel’s Peoples Party of Nigeria (PPN). The Fasanmi’s group campaigned for ACN candidates.
Where things went wrong?
How did Afenifere lost its steam to become a weak vehicle? The group has been battling with internal crisis since Awolowo days. The internal wrangling manifested in the bitter succession battle into the stool of Awolowo, the leader of the group. One of the contenders, Ige, nicknamed Arole Awolowo by admirers, was nearly rusticated from the group in 1982 at the Yola congress of the defunct Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN). Historians dubbed it the night of long knives.
In this dispensation, Akinyemi, whose illustrious father, Canon Akinyemi, was a member of the old order, dissected the group, doubting that the organisation’s openness to new ideas. The former Foreign Affairs minister faulted the old method of running the group. But, the old men fired back, labelling them as too young to know the details of the credo. Reflecting on the fate of Afenifere, Akinyemi declared: “Nigeria and Africa have been plagued with the tensions arising from making a transition from political systems dominated by founding fathers to systems managed by first among equals.”
He also pointed out that some of the dramatis personae may not have elevated Afenifere interest above personal interest.
Oshun pointed out that the protracted crises in Afenifere had their roots in the Bola Ige/Ayo Adebanjo personality clashes and Ganiyu Dawodu/Bola Tinubu battle for supremacy and survival. Right from Awolowo days, Ige and Adebanjo had not enjoyed total cordial relationship, although they remained fiercely loyal to Awolowo. When Ige lost the AD presidential ticket to Falae, hell was let loose. As minister, Ige urged his former commissioner when he was governor of Oyo State, Koleoso, to challenge Adebanjo’s bid to retain his position as the AD national vice chairman. The party was destined for two parallel convention – one at Eagle Squares and another at Abuja Gardens.
In Lagos State, Dawodu never hid his dislike for Tinubu. He was locked in supremacy battle with the governor in the Lagos AD. Tinubu acted fast by building a solid political structure that could survive without Afenifere, ahead of 2003 elections. When Dawodu, backed by Afenifere leaders of Ogun State origin, moved against Tinubu machinery, following the rejection of the 60:40 formula for the sharing of elective and appointive positions in Lagos State, the group crashed.
When Afenifere ran into turbulence, its lack of crisis resolution mechanism compounded its precarious situation. When AD deputy governors – Kofoworola Akerele-Bucknor and Iyiola Omisore – were at loggerheads with their bosses, when governors Adefarati and Adebayo were at war over Ondo/Ekiti joint property, when leadership tussle in AD between Akande and Akinfenwa got to the peak, when aggrieved Afenifere/AD chieftains were defecting from the party to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the political family became more vulnerable. Some Afenifere leaders called for the restructuring of the group, but the proposal was shot down.
To observers, Afenifere failed to resolve its “D’Rovans debacle.” The AD presidential convention was expected to be a coronation of a sort for Ige, was Afenifere’s deputy leader. When he lost out, his ego was bruised. A fighter, Ige vowed to revenge. To spite his colleagues, he accepted to serve in the Obasanjo’s cabinet at a wrong time and contrary to the mood of the Southwest. He never returned alive.
Later, the late Ven Alayande and Justice Adewale Thompson rallied other eminent Yoruba elders outside Afenifere to form the Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE). There was the suspicion that the new group enjoyed the backing of Ige, whose membership of Obasanjo government became an issue, unlike the appointment of Adebanjo into the tiny constitution review committee and the appointment of Senator Cornelius Adebayo as a minister.
When Ige died, his camp became divided. Two associates of Ige – Akande and Akinfenwa – decided to contest the AD chairmanship. Those opposed to Ige in Afenifere queued behind the senator. But, Tinubu, Adesina, and Adebayo rooted for Akande’s chairmanship. The Mamman Yusuf/Ahmed Abdulkadir scenario was reenacted, with the AD becoming factionalised to its roots. It was evident that the AD was about to be liquidated. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was tossing around the AD by giving recognition and withdrawing the fame from Akande and Akinfenwa. The former leader, Adesanya, could not resolve the imbroglio before his demise.
Had Fasoranti declined to make the famous Akure declaration, may be, the hope of reconciliation would not have dimmed.
