Afenifere Chief Ayo Adebanjo, the leader of the pan-Yoruba group, has responded to Mr. Bola Tinubu’s visit to Pa Reuben Fasoranti, a former leader of the organisation, stating the comments that followed it were an attempt to split the group.
“There is nothing going on other than an attempt to split Afenifere to which I will not be a party,” he said on Monday.
“It is a sort of conspiracy among those who want to see Afenifere divided. They have been on this plan for over a month ago and my members came to me to alert me about it and I said, ‘Don’t talk about it. It would be a diversion’,” the Afenifere chieftain added. “All we want now is an election on issues.”
He said Pa Fasoranti had called to inform him about Tinubu’s planned visit. He said the former Afenifere leader was initially not open to receiving the APC candidate but he persuaded him to do so.
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“I will tell you the story and I won’t go further,” he said. “Pa Fasoranti phoned me on Friday that Tinubu had phoned him and that he wanted to come and see him and he wanted to say no. I said no, don’t do that, you are an elder statesman. If he wanted to see you, why not?”
The All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential’s candidate, Tinubu, paid a visit to Pa Fasoranti on Sunday in Akure, where the former governor of Lagos State received support.
However, Chief Adebanjo, who had previously supported Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP), asserted that the recent action was intended to splinter the group during his appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today.
He claimed that Tinubu’s intended visit had been announced over the phone by Pa Fasoranti. He claimed that although he persuaded the former Afenifere leader to accept the APC candidate, he was first reluctant to do so.
Since the South-East hasn’t produced a president since democracy was restored in 1999, Obi bases his support for the candidate on equitable ideals. He asserted that the South-East should take the lead now that the South-South and South-West have delivered the president.
“I will tell you the story and I won’t go further,” he said. “Pa Fasoranti phoned me on Friday that Tinubu had phoned him and that he wanted to come and see him and he wanted to say no. I said no, don’t do that, you are an elder statesman. If he wanted to see you, why not?”
“South-South has had its own and I said it is remaining the South-East,” he noted.
