Tinubu on Sunday visited Fasoranti in his home in Akure, the Ondo capital, where he was received by the State’s Deputy Governor, Lucky Ayedatiwa, the State’s APC Chairman, Ade Adetimehin, and other leaders of the party in and outside Ondo.
The presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, has lambasted the Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, as one of its leaders, Reuben Fasoranti, on Sunday, did not only pray for the presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, but also endorsed him on behalf of South West region.
Tinubu on Sunday visited Fasoranti in his home in Akure, the Ondo capital, where he was received by the State’s Deputy Governor, Lucky Ayedatiwa, the State’s APC Chairman, Ade Adetimehin, and other leaders of the party in and outside Ondo.
After Tinubu’s visit to Fasoranti, The Nation quoted a statement by the National Organising Secretary of Afenifere, Abagun Kole Omololu as saying that leaders of the organization from the South West and some North Central states including Kogi and Kwara have expressed confidence in the ability of Tinubu to lead the country out of the woods.
According to the statement, Afenifere said, “Having taken cognisance of his commendable antecedents as Lagos State Governor and his demonstrated ability in building physical and human capital, the Yoruba Leaders at today’s meeting are in no doubt that Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria offers the best opportunity to produce a government of that will usher in a new era of hope, peace, security, harmony, gainful employment for the multitude, economic development, social and political stability.
“Following the indication by the Presidential Candidate of All Progressives Congress, APC, in the forthcoming 2023 Elections, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to visit the Leader of the pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation Afenifere, Pa Reuben Famuyide Fasoranti OFR, invited Leaders from all parts of Yorubaland to be with him as he receives the astute politician.
“The Leaders and some other eminent Yoruba intelligentsia responded positively by sitting with him as he hosted Tinubu in Akure today.
“The meeting was attended by Yoruba Leaders from Oyo, Ogun, Ondo, Ekiti, Osun, Lagos, Kogi and Kwara States.
“The meeting was fully briefed about the aspiration of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to contest for the Presidency of Nigeria in the forthcoming Elections in February 2023. He even presented his Manifesto to Baba, the Asiwaju of Yorubaland.
“He shared with us his vision of a greater and more prosperous Nigeria where democratic rights, rule of law, justice and fairness will reign supreme. He also gave the assurance on steps to be taken to ensure the safety and security of Nigerians and their properties.
“We were also assured of his commitment to the promotion of true federalism that will give states more control over their affairs.”
Meanwhile, the leader of Afenifere, Pa Ayo Adebanjo had earlier endorsed the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, saying a Southeasterner should be Nigeria’s next president for the sake of fairness. No southerner or Igbo person has been President of Nigeria since the current democratic dispensation, which started in 1999.
But reacting to the said endorsement, Sowore said, “Afenifere Team ‘A’ & Afenifere ‘B’ ought to know they goofed, they can’t sit in their living rooms and endorse candidates on behalf of South West, they are too fiercely independent to fall for these crooked endorsements. They’ll always vote their conscience!”
There have also been a series of backlashes against the Tinubu endorsement by the Afenifere leaders as some members of the group, including its current leader, Adebanjo and the Secretary-General of the association, Chief Sola Ebiseni did not attend the meeting.
While endorsing Obi, Adebanjo, a former governor of Anambra State in the South-East region of the country, he had said, “The south-west, as I have pointed out, has produced a president and currently sits as VP; the south-south has spent a total of six years in the presidency, but the Igbo people of the south-east have never tasted presidency in Nigeria, and now that the power is due back in the south, equity demands that it be ceded to the Igbo.
“We cannot continue to demand that the Igbo people remain in Nigeria, while we at the same time continue to brutally marginalize and exclude them from the power dynamics.”
Also reacting to Sunday’s event at Fasoranti’s home in Akure, Adebanjo told Daily Trust that he warned Fasoranti on the phone against endorsing Tinubu, adding that those in attendance at the meeting were Yoruba APC chieftains.
He said, “The Yoruba people know their leader. I’ve spoken, the National Secretary has spoken. This is not the time to engage in polemics. The way forward is my position.
“What happened was a diversion. They want us to be engaged in arguments. Is that the issue now?
“Can he (Tinubu) deny it that the South-West has not had its turn? Can he deny it South-South has not had its turn? They should answer that. As far as I am concerned, the meeting does not concern us as Afenifere.
“Afenifere is not divided. That was why I said I don’t want to engage in polemics. They want to throw a wedge between me and Pa Reuben Fasoranti and I won’t allow it. The man phoned me yesterday and I warned him, don’t get yourself involved.”