… Says group will survive internal turbulence

… Insists Fasoranti’s legacy must guide process

A factional leader of the pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, Oba Oladipo Olaitan, has stated that the leadership succession in the group is not determined by campaigns or personal ambition.

According to him, established traditions and selection process should guide the emergence of leaders amid concerns over internal divisions within the foremost Yoruba body.

Olaitan stated this during a condolence visit to the family of the late Afenifere leader, Pa Reuben Fasoranti, in Akure, the Ondo State capital, where he described the organisation’s succession process as “apostolic succession.”

He maintained that its leadership positions were not offices members should contest through campaigns but responsibilities that should emerge through established traditions.

The Afenifere chieftain, who said he had been a member of the organisation for about 47 years, expressed confidence that Afenifere possessed the institutional depth to overcome any leadership challenges, adding that its members understood its traditions and established procedures and that any disagreement should be resolved in accordance with the organisation’s established processes.

Olaitan, who served as the organisation’s national financial secretary under Fasoranti and deputy leader under the late Chief Ayo Adebanjo, said his longstanding relationships with the organisation’s past leaders had given him a deep understanding of its history and traditions, recalling personal relationships with Baba Obafemi Awolowo, Baba Michael Adekunle Ajasin, Papa Abraham Adesanya and Baba Ayo Adebanjo.

“You don’t vie for it. You don’t campaign for it. It’s an apostolic selection. If you are the deputy, naturally, if the leader goes, you go,” Olaitan said, explaining the organisation’s succession tradition.

He emphasised the possibility of turbulence within the Yoruba socio-political establishment but expressed confidence that its enduring values would help it overcome the challenges, saying, “I see some turbulence because, unfortunately, there could be some turbulence over greed.

The factional leader, whose appointment followed Adebanjo’s death on February 14, 2025, maintained that the Yoruba people would distinguish genuine leadership from claims to authority, arguing that recognition by the people, rather than self-proclamation, remained a defining feature of legitimate leadership.

“If anybody, a Yoruba man, comes and says, ‘I’m the leader,’ the Yoruba man knows who the leader is. They know,” he said.

Olaitan also expressed concern over what he described, stressing that the development is temporary and insisted that it would not permanently undermine the Yoruba people’s identity and values.

“The ethos, the mainstay of what the Yoruba race is known for, we will survive. No matter the shenanigans you may find on the surface, we will survive,” he said.

Paying tribute to Fasoranti, Olaitan described the late elder statesman as an exceptional individual whose integrity, discipline, humility and commitment to service distinguished him from many others, noting that Fasoranti commanded respect without resorting to loudness or intimidation and that his character and conduct were sufficient to communicate his convictions and inspire those around him.

“He was a chapter in himself. You don’t have that too often. They come few and far apart. They come like a star, and then they glitter, a beacon. He was coolness, he was fairness, he was forthrightness, he was pure. He was a strict disciplinarian, but a disciplinarian who did not have to shout to give orders. He did that by example, by what he did.”

“In all my years of interacting with leaders, dating back to when I was 21, he was the only one who had ever done that to me. He cared about you, and he showed it,” he said.

Olaitan further recalled Fasoranti’s composure following the death of his daughter, saying he and other associates had been apprehensive about approaching him to offer condolences but were surprised by the elder statesman’s calm disposition.

He said Fasoranti’s decision to appoint him deputy leader had also reflected the trust the late elder statesman placed in him, particularly at a time when the organisation needed stability.

Olaitan expressed confidence that the values associated with the Yoruba concept of Omoluabi, including integrity, discipline and a strong sense of responsibility, would endure beyond the current political and organisational challenges.

“Politics will come and go. It will come and go. At the end of it all, we shall all be happy that we are typical Yoruba people. It doesn’t matter what happens. We will survive,” he added.