Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere leader, Chief Ayo Adebanjo has taken Afenifere Renewal Group members to the cleaners.
He said; “I have been saying, there is nothing like another Afenifere. Any group that goes by that name, Afenifere, is a rebel and I have told them. I told Wale Oshun, their president. They are my products.”
“If they disagree with us and they want to form their own, let them use another name. When you say there is another Afenifere, what have they done or said since then that is different from what Afenifere stands for?”
“It is their ego, which is unlike Afenifere. Look at my appointment that you mentioned, my leader, Pa Reuben Fasoranti didn’t tell me beforehand; he probably knows what my reaction would be, but our tradition is that we don’t disobey our leader.”
“They don’t imbibe that and they say they are Afenifere; they are rebels. If they disagree with us, let them go and look for their own name. They say they are Afenifere Renewal; what are they renewing in Afenifere; our priority on education, health, rural development or the fact that we stand on the principle of federalism?”
“What do they want to renew there? It is the press that has continued to call them by that name and I will continue to correct them.”
“Our policy has always been harmonised. There was nothing I had done that did not have the approval of my leader. At any forum I attended for Afenifere, I always said it that I was attending on his behalf. He is older than me. However, there can be improvements but there will be no change of direction.”
“We have never claimed to be an organisation for all the Yoruba. We are a political organisation and our party is Action Group, while the Yoruba name is Afenifere. The Action Group has a distinct policy and ideology. So, we cannot say all Yoruba support Afenifere, so we don’t say we are 100 per cent Yoruba, no.”
“Some people would claim that because they are Yoruba they are Afenifere, no. They can only be an Oduduwa. To be Afenifere, you must be a believer in the principles of late Chief Obafemi Awolowo.”
– Source: Punchng