Elder statesman, Chief Ayo Adebanjo has said he his not enthusiastic about his new role as the leader of Afenifere, Pan Yoruba Socio- Political Group.
TheNewsGuru.com, TNG reports that Pa Reuben Fasoranti, 95 stepped down as leader of the group last week during the group’s monthly meeting in Akure, the Ondo state capital citing his old age. He later announced that his deputy, Chief Ayo Adebanjo take over in acting capacity.
However, in his first official reaction since the announcement last Tuesday, Adebanjo said:
“Well, I am not enthusiastic about it. The way my leader, Pa Fasoranti did it, he didn’t consult me. He only asked if I was coming to the meeting and I said I can’t come because of the danger on our roads. It is not that I didn’t like it but I think he should have looked for a younger person. He said he is old. He is 95 years and he is asking a 93-year old to step in. That’s all my reservation.
As he said in his address at the meeting, nothing is going to happen outside what has been happening. We are only going to continue with the vigour. Traditionally, Afenifere has been governed and ruled through a collegiate system with the approval and consent of my leader, Pa Fasoranti.
There is nothing I do that he didn’t approve. All the events, meetings and organisations I have been attending have his approval and consent. There is no change at all, except that we will continue in that trend,” Pa Adebanjo said in an interview with Tribune on Wednesday (today).
Responding a question on why the group has always picked from the older generation to steer its affairs, Adebanjo said:
“No, it’s not a question of appointing elderly people to the leadership position of Afenifere. I have tried to correct this impression severally. I intentionally mentioned earlier the question of youths. Where are the youths that can be appointed who have not been here, there and here again? Tell me? In fact, some of our members, who knew I could reject the appointment, asked me, “Baba, who would you suggest amongst us?” They are all competitors among themselves; they all claim to be equal. For instance, if Professor Banji Akintoye had not displayed what he did, he is bound to be there because he is younger. So when he came, I put him forward wherever we went; but he wanted to jump the queue. He formed the Yoruba Congress against our leader but everybody knows that the leader of Afenifere is the leader of the Yoruba nation. They are just deceiving themselves. We don’t argue that. He did cause a controversy within. Somehow he has repented but he is still carrying on. That’s our problem. So, when people say young men should take the lead, a lot of young men are opportunists. You can’t see traditional members of Chief Obafemi Awolowo in any party today I can tell you with the hindsight of young men, who joined us as the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), as the Alliance for Democracy (AD ) because they knew that if they didn’t join our party, they couldn’t win any election. But the moment they had difficulty in getting their ways, they bolted away and that’s responsible for where we are today. That’s why they have to go with the North. What is the relationship between Tinubu’s antecedent with Afenifere and Congress for Progressive Change (CPC)? They are incompatible. I said it at a time that the alliance they have is a conglomeration of incompatibles. Look at what is happening now. They have nothing doing other than sharing of offices and the sharing of offices is what is tearing them into pieces now. All I am saying is not off record; it should be out in print.”