Despite that Afenifere, led by Pa Ayo Adebanjo, had publicly endorsed the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, a former leader of the organization, Pa Reuben Fasoranti, on Sunday endorsed Tinubu when the politician visited him in his home in Akure, Ondo State.
The Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) Atiku/Okowa Campaign Organization has faulted the endorsement of the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu by a former leader of Afenifere, a pan-Yoruba socio-cultural organisation.
Despite that Afenifere, led by Pa Ayo Adebanjo, had publicly endorsed the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, a former leader of the organization, Pa Reuben Fasoranti, on Sunday endorsed Tinubu when the politician visited him in his home in Akure, Ondo State.
The meeting was attended by several Afenifere members and South West leaders but some members of the group, including Adebanjo, and the Secretary-General, Chief Sola Ebiseeni, were absent.
Reacting to the group’s endorsement of Tinubu, the presidential spokesman of Atiku/Okowa Campaign Organisation, Daniel Bwala, in a statement said the absence of Adebanjo and others was an indication that the endorsement was faulty.
Bwala faulted Tinubu for saying he would bring the “trophy home,” describing the statement as divisive.
He said the statement shows Tinubu is a “tribal evangelist” championing an ethnic agenda.
Bwala described Tinubu’s visit to Fasoranti as the “crawling of a rat at night to steal meat from the pot”.
He said it was “strange because it was not an organized setting of the usual meeting of the highly respected Afenifere; needless to say the leader of the group Pa Adebanjo and the secretary were obviously absent when he went to in a Gestapo manner”.
He continued, “First off, the Afenifere we know has through their leader made known their position as to who they support and it was certainly not Tinubu. Secondly, if it were a meeting seeking to know the right person to support or endorse amongst the candidates it ought to have at least invited the leading candidates to hear their take on what plans they have for the country that caters to the interests of Afenifere.
“So to Tinubu, the race to become the president of Nigeria is a trophy to be won and taken to his ethnic enclave. He was not only wrong in his tribal insinuation that not a single Yoruba opposed the ticket, but he also lied because lots of Yorubas took strong objections to the same faith ticket and to his divisive and religious politics.
“To say that his ticket is supported by all Yorubas is, to say the least disingenuous, false, and condemnable.
“Tinubu has made no secret about his tribal championship and utter disregard for other ethnic people in southern Nigeria. This to say the least is sad and terribly troubling and Nigerians should rise and condemn this rhetoric at the polls.”