Omololu Ogunmade
25 November 2008
analysis
Lagos — After holding forte as the leader of Afenifere, the pan-Yoruba socio-political organization in acting capacity for four years, Chief Reuben Famuyide Fasoranti, was finally named the substantive leader of the group last week.
The ratification was the fall-out of a congress held in Ijebu Igbo home of Fasoranti's predecessor, Pa Abraham Adesanya, who passed on in April, this year, after a protracted illness.
Present at the meeting were the former presidential candidate of the All Peoples Party (APP) and Alliance for Democracy (AD) in 1999, Chief Olu Falae, two respected leaders of the group, Sir Olaniwun Ajayi and Chief Ayo Adebanjo, the group's General Secretary, Senator Femi Okurounmu and leader of the Lagos State chapter of the group, Chief Supo Shonibare.
Others were Senator Mojisoluwa Akinfenwa, Chief Wumi Adegbonmire, Chief Kole Omololu and former deputy governor of Ogun State, Alhaji Adegbenga Kaka.
How the Crisis Began
The ratification marked a turning point in the history of an organization which had been been rocked by protracted crises since November 22, 2005, when an alleged dissident group, led by Senator Ayo Fasanmi emerged in Lagos. In the group were the former governor of Lagos State, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, incumbent National Chairman of the Action Congress (AC), Chief Bisi Akande and former governors in the South-west on the platform of the moribund Alliance for Democracy (AD), excluding the late Chief Adebayo Adefarati (Ondo).
Since then, things have virtually fallen apart in Afenifere, the hitherto authoritative platform of the Yoruba people, which vehemently fought the despotic government of the former military head of state, General Sani Abacha to a stand still at the heat of pro-democracy struggle in the 90's.
Reconciliatory Moves
Both groups have continued to call each other names, while several efforts to achieve reconciliation proved abortive. In a bid to ensure true reconciliation, prominent Yoruba leaders notably a former Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Kayode Eso, Bishops Bolanle Gbonigi and Ayo Ladigbolu as well as the former military governor of the defunct Western Region, General Adeyinka Adebayo had constituted different reconciliation committees all to no avail.
While the Fasoranti group of Afenifere, has in the past four years, claimed to have duly sought for reconciliation, Fasanmi's group has always ruled out the possibility of reconciliation, vowing to have nothing to do with their brothers in Fasoranti's camp.
During the Ijebu Igbo ratification meeting last Wednesday, General Secretary of the group, Senator Femi Okurounmu narrated how all their efforts to reconcile with the Fasanmi-led group, had fallen through despite the constitution of a committee led by Justice Eso (rtd.) to champion the course of reconciliation.
According to him, the Fasanmi faction shunned the meetings called by Eso's committee, disclosing that rather, it requested to see Eso in privacy during which it told him that it was no longer interested in its membership of Afenifere.
He also recalled how further efforts by Adebayo to achieve reconciliation between the two groups failed, saying the rival group would either jettison the meeting called by Adebayo's committee or come to be excused from the meeting.
How Fasoranti Emerged
After about two hours of deliberation at the Ijebu-Igbo congress last week, a former leader of Pro-National Congress Organisation (PRONACO), Baba Omojola moved the motion for the confirmation of Fasoranti as Adesanya's successor. He said: "I hereby move the motion that the acting leader who has been doing well, be confirmed as the leader of Afenifere."
The motion was seconded by Chief Lere Adebayo, a member of the Osun State chapter of Afenifere and ratified by the entire congress.
Speaking after the confirmation, Okurounmu said the confirmation of Fasoranti as Afenifere leader, was well deserved, saying: "One of the things that has endeared him to us in his acting leadership capacity was his efforts to re-unite us and see that all of us come under one platform." Okurounmu said since the olive branch waved to the Fasanmi's group had yielded no result and realizing that time and tide wait for nobody, the group was left with no option than to confer the leadership of the group on Fasoranti, who according to him had portrayed himself as a true Yoruba elder in the spirit of reconciliation in the last four years.
In his acceptance speech, Fasoranti said he was overwhelmed by the support of the people present at the gathering and the zeal with which they conferred the position of that magnitude on him.
He said with deep emotion that he had acted as the leader of the group in the past four years with tears and anxiety, regretting that persons expected to give maximum co-operation to the organization, in the pursuit of the wellbeing of Yoruba people, have turned against him and other leaders of the group, but assured members that the leaders of the group have vowed not to be discouraged, pledging that he would continue to extend his hands of fellowship to the alleged dissident group.
Reaction to His Emergence
However, 24 hours before the conferment of Afenifere leadership on Fasoranti, a group within Afenifere, Afenifere Renewal Group, comprising younger elements, decried the move, saying it was unfortunate that elders of Afenifere, had opted to embark on such steps at the time it was working assiduously to reconcile the aggrieved parties.
A statement by Wale Oshun and Yinka Odumakin, the group's chairman and secretary respectively, said elevating Fasoranti to the position of the leader of the group at this time of crisis, would further aggravate the crisis bedeviling the organization.
The statement read in part:"The attention of Afenifere Renewal Group has been drawn to a report in a weekend newspaper, quoting an elder in Afenifere as saying that a meeting of Afenifere has been fixed for Ijebu-Igbo on Thursday to ratify a successor for the departed Leader, Senator Abraham Adesanya. Though he admitted that there are tendencies within the organization, he described his group as 'mainstream.' This move has already generated reaction from other leaders.
"This development is a recipe for another round of saber-rattling, factional squabbles and abandoning the vision of the founding fathers of Afenifere for personal quarrels, inward throwing of punches and open rounds of acrimony. It is a weather-beaten path that has substantially distracted from confronting the challenges facing the Yoruba nation.
"We must put on record that the late Leader of Afenifere, Senator Abraham Adesanya spent the last five years of his active life resolving internecine disputes among his followers till he collapsed in the middle of the crisis and never recovered. To resume that line of action six months after his death would appear to us as dancing on the grave of Adesanya, whose last earthly regret was not leaving one united Afenifere behind like Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Chief Adekunle Ajasin," the group said.
What Afenifere Renewal Group Wants
At any rate, reasons for the position of the Afenifere Renewal Group are not far fetched. The group has since its emergence, been canvassing the need for a generational shift. It is its position that the elders which still hold sway as Afenifere leaders, should have shifted grounds to pave way for the emergence of younger elements as leaders of the group.
To this end, the ARG argued that Awolowo, the revered late Yoruba leader had begun to lead the group when he was in the current age brackets of members and hence. They therefore, said according them such an opportunity, would have been the only right step in the right direction.
But the elders have been swift to dismiss this insinuation, saying it is sacrilegious for persons who constitute the ARG to compare themselves with Awolowo. They argued that none of the members of ARG possesses the integrity and qualities which gave away Awolowo as a potential leader.
Besides, Falae said the idea of generational shift was strange in Afenifere. According to him, Awolowoo died at the age of 78; Ajasin departed at the age of 89, while Adesanya passed on at 85, explaining that nobody ever canvassed any generational shift before these leaders died at their ripe ages. Falae therefore viewed this call as misplaced.
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