The pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, on Tuesday debunked a report claiming that it had endorsed the coalition movement within the political circle, as reported by a group that visited former President Olusegun Obasanjo in Abeokuta, Ogun State, over the weekend.
It would be recalled that a report in various conventional and online media quoted Chief Sola Ebiseni as claiming that Afenifere holds the view that the coalition being formed is what would save Nigeria from drifting into a one-party state.
The National Publicity Secretary of the body, Jare Ajayi, declared that Afenifere had not sent any delegation to former President Obasanjo in recent times nor made any statement being attributed to it.
In a statement made available to journalists in Ibadan, Ajayi maintained that the team that visited were those who played important roles in the attempt to make Mr. Peter Obi president during the 2023 presidential election race.
“We are not denying the fact that at least two of the people in the delegation are notable Afenifere chieftains. They are Chief Sola Ebiseni and Chief Akin Osuntokun. But it is on record that Chief Osuntokun was the person who took over as Campaign Director of
Peter Obi Presidential Campaign Council when the late Dr. Doyin Okupe resigned from that position. Chief Ebiseni was the South West Co-ordinator of the same council,” Ajayi said.
The Afenifere spokesperson said, “What further underscores the fact that the visit was not that of Afenifere was the presence of coordinators of the Peter Obi Presidential Campaign Council who are not in Afenifere. They were Mr. John Ughulu and the Secretary,
Dr. Folaseye Adabayo, Lagos State Co-ordinator and Secretary, respectively, of Peter Obi Presidential Campaign Council. He went further to state that the principal, Mr. Peter Obi, has been reported to be in the ADC Coalition presently. It is therefore logical that his supporters would be justifying the coalition.
“Afenifere is not against any political group. But it is not in cahoots with any political party since it is non-partisan politically. Afenifere is for all the Yorubas. As we all know, not all Yoruba people are in politics. Even those who are in politics do not necessarily belong to the same political party. As such, Afenifere can not afford to be politically partisan. But since it has a political view, it can support a (socio-political) standpoint that aligns with its own position at any given time.”
He added that this, in part, explains why Afenifere continues to support the federal government’s efforts to restore and reposition the country in the overall interest of the Nigerian people. “Talking about coalition or no-coalition is therefore a distraction that we can not afford,” Ajayi said.
