29 November 2008
interview
THE pan Yoruba socio-political organization, Afenifere, Thursday, last week, unanimously confirmed Chief Reuben Fasoranti as substantive leader of the group at the Ijebu-Igbo, Ogun State home of the immediate past leader of the group, late Senator Abraham Adesanya. The appointment came after four years of acting as leader of the group. Chief Fasoranti in this interview comments on sundry national issues such as the late Sani Abacha, Olusegun Obasanjo regimes as well as 1993 June 12 saga: Excerpts:
What future is there for Afenifere?
THE future of Afenifere is very bright and we have made a mark by appointing a substantive leader of Afenifere. The way is clear. There will be no distraction; we can now plan purposefully and unfold our plans for Yoruba. In the past, there have been some distractions but we now regard Afenifere as one group. .
Don't you think there could still be distraction?
I do not think so. Because this is the mainstream of Afenifere. Other groups were part of Afenifere. They have been trying to stand out and they tried to cut a figure for themselves, but they could not sustain it and they know they cannot survive without us.
Tinubu
So that is why they are making this frantic effort. They are now saying Afenifere is factionalised, which is not. And Yinka Odumakin, our Publicity Secretary now feels that he cannot be committee secretary of a lesser group and be recognized, so after some time, I am sure they will come out and join hands with us.
Don't you think this might not be possible?
Not at all, the public is watching us and the public knows where power lies. The mainstream of Afenifere is with us. There are rumours that the present Afenifere is sponsored by the PDP governors. And that this is Gbenga Daniel's faction.
(Giggles). We are ourselves. If Gbenga Daniel wants to come, he will speak with us and we shall consider his candidature. As we said in my maiden speech, our door is open to all. When people come, we shall consider them on their merit. He is in PDP; if he wants to come, of course he won't come as a PDP man. He will apply to Afenifere. If he believes in our credo, we shall consider it and see what he can do. But he is not coming as a PDP person.
Most of the South West governors are PDP, and Afenifere being a progressive group with affiliation with AD and AC parties. How do you reconcile this?
We have no problem with them. They do not disturb us. We open our doors to them. If they like, they'll talk to us. The governor in our state is a PDP governor, that is, Agagu. He does not disturb us at all. We go on with our programme. If he is fascinated by our programme and he wants to come, we will discuss it. But he is not going to 'swallow' us, rather, he will have to come over and we will consider his application, ditto for all others.
You just stepped into Adesanya's shoes. Can you fill his boots?
His shoes are not oversize for me. They will fit perfectly. I have been acting in this capacity for the past 41/2 years and people consider the fact that I have done very well. That is why they have confirmed my appointment. So they must have been satisfied with what I have been doing. That is why they said 'Ok, go ahead. We now confirm your appointment as a substantive leader of Afenifere'. So the assignment is not much for me.
In your speech, you mentioned Yar' Adua's health. Is Nigeria's slow progress because of this ill health?
It is part of it; that is number one. Secondly, he was not ready for the post when it was forced on him. He did not have any agenda; he was more or less drafted into it and that is why we are having this slow motion. He has been trying to change his cabinet for the past 3 months: no results.
If he had got himself prepared for the job, he would have gotten his manifesto with some plans and as soon as he came in, he would have gone with it. So, his ill health is part of it, his state of unpreparedness is part of it and we know some advisers would be trying to distract him and seek his favour. So, he is being distracted.
What's your message to Yoruba people?
My message will be that Yoruba people should come together and have a cause, have a focus. At the moment, they are not together; therefore, many federal posts are slipping out of their hands and you can say that Yorubas are suffering.
What is your relationship with former governor of Lagos State, Senator Bola Tinubu, who was one of you before the relationship soured?
He was one of us long ago, but see, he is a dissident, so to say. He was an Afenifere; we supported him to become governor, after then, he kicked us and turned his back on us. So he has not seen eye to eye with us for a long time. We tried to bring him back. But he is charting a different course. That should not disturb us.
We have made efforts. We mentioned in that address that there was a Kayode Esho panel which was on for about four to five months, trying to call these people to meetings, discuss with them the wisdom of having a united forum, of having just one body to speak for the Yoruba. But where we are divided, people will not respect us; but luckily, the respectable Yoruba leaders are with us, the people whose names are credible, people whom the public respects are with us. So, there is no problem.
Yoruba nation is supposed to speak with one voice. What is happening is contrary to this?
Well, not necessarily. If you look at our history, Yoruba people have never united as one. But there had been a vocal group - a group that speaks for the Yoruba people. When Papa Awolowo returned from the United Kingdom , we were in groups. But he made efforts to bring us together. Even at that time when his Action Group was in control, people like Adeniran were in NCNC.
Fadahunsi of Ilesha was in NCNC. But still his (Awolowo) majority commanded respect and spoke for the Yorubas. So, there had been no time the Yoruba people were 100% in one place. But after he passed on, people went back again and that is why we are making efforts to make sure that we are together. We shall reconcile the young ones , those in opposition. We will bring them back to the group. We shall bring sanity to the system. We look forward to re- uniting the group.
As I told you, we made efforts. We had held meetings. We held about 8 meetings here, 3 meetings in Akure. Kayode Esho held meetings about 6 or 7 times. He invited them (the former governors) and they refused to come. So at that point, we just felt they were heady and most uncompromising, so we felt we had wasted enough time. We need to forge ahead and plan for the people.
What is major challenge as the new leader of Afenifere?
One is to continue to work with the credo of Afenifere, which is freedom for all, life more abundant, welfare of the common man and honesty and so on. We shall work ahead to invite other people who are not friendly with us now, who had been with us before to come along and let us work for the common goals. Then we have a hidden agenda, and we have something to nurse. They should please come on. Let us work together for the good of the people. That is our challenge. We shall continue to talk to them; we shall not relent in our efforts.
We have not been hearing of that at all, but we are very friendly with the group working with Adebayo. They come to our meetings. They were in our meeting at Ijebu last Thursday. They work with us; they are very friendly with us.
While we keep the door open for reconciliation and continue to stretch out our hands of friendship to those still out of the fold, we must now close the chapter on the unfortunate era of dissension, disagreements and wrangling over who was to hold what position in the party. Afenifere was not established just to provide opportunities for people to occupy positions of authority; rather it was founded to provide leadership in moving our people forward in peace and prosperity.
We shall henceforth turn our attention to the people who are suffering untold hardship and deprivation and will seek viable solutions to the problem of poverty, hunger, unemployment and cultural degradation in Yorubaland.
In doing this, we shall pursue in cooperation with other ethnic nationalities and other progressive forces in Nigeria, constitutional changes that will recognize the autonomy of the nationalities and grant them their constitutional rights as federating units that will enable them to develop at their own pace and in accordance with their own priorities within the Nigerian state.
In this regard, we shall work with others to re-establish in Nigeria, a true federation, analogous to the federal arrangement which we had prior to 1966, when the Yoruba under the Action Group government of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, became the pacesetter in Nigeria and Africa.
We shall canvass the parliamentary form of government which is not only cheaper to run, but it is also more collegiate and more suitable for heterogeneous society such as ours where the need for continuous consultation and consensus is ever present.
We also advocate a return to a regional government as a focal point for articulating our aspirations and implementing our dreams as a people. For the avoidance of doubt and prevention of mischief, the existing states will continue to exist and function, and more states could even be created as desired. These are important provisions in the PRONACO draft constitution that Afenifere participated in producing. We will do all we can to make this draft Constitution the basis of the new Nigerian constitution.
The second element in our endeavor is the development of society, culture and economy. We were able to occupy the commanding heights of commerce, industry, and the profession in the past because we had political consensus and cohesion. We have now been relegated to the sidelines precisely because we have lost our unity and focus, and others no longer think they will lose anything if they do reckon with us.
If we must regain the pride of place to which our members, education and cultural advancement entitle us, we must come together on the Afenifere platform, which has served us well for over 50 years. To make this easier to achieve, we have now decided to throw the membership of Afenifere open to all Yoruba people above 18 years, regardless of present party affiliation, provided they accept the Afenifere credo of making the welfare of the individual citizen the main purpose of government.
It must be made clear that no member, whether old or new, will be representing any political party in the new Afenifere. All members will meet and interact as patriotic Yoruba leaders who are concerned about the condition of the race and are willing to offer their time and talents towards the revival and re-empowerment of our people. In this regard, we are setting up very soon, various committees to articulate blue prints for the development of Yoruba society; its culture, education, health, agriculture, industry, communications, transportation, technology etc.
This is a clarion call to all those who have been itching to join Afenifere to make a difference. We appeal to all our people to come forward and join Afenifere and become part of this renaissance and re-awakening.
How does Afenifere assess our nascent democracy viz-a-viz 1993 June 12 saga?
Afenifere, under various platforms, has been the most potent force in Nigerian politics through the years for the promotion and sustenance of democracy and the defence of the interest and promotion of the welfare of not just Yorubas, but all Nigerians. We have already chronicled its vanguard role in the First Republic, under the political platform of the Action Group, until the military brought that republic to an abrupt end in January 1966.
The coup was spurred by mounting national instability as a result of hostilities largely directed against the Action Group and its leadership from sections of the country that felt threatened by the relentless forward march of the Western Region, and sought to blunt it, in collusion with dissident forces from the region itself.
During the succeeding darkness of military rule from 1966 to 70, which included three years of brutal civil war, the role of the Afenifere leadership was crucial in stabilizing Gowon's regime, mobilizing support for the federal side and ensuring the successful prosecution of the war to preserve the unity of the nation.
Then again, in the 2nd Republic, the Afenifere leadership mid-wifed a resurgence of the nation's broad progressive alliance to form the Unity Party of Nigeria, UPN, whose presidential candidate, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, was rigged out of the presidency in 1979 by the infamous 12 2/3 formula of Chief Richard Akinjide, propounded in favour of NPN's Alh. Shehu Shagari.
In spite of this clearly disingenuous ambush on the political process, the UPN demonstrated its preference for democracy, no matter how imperfect, and gave the Shagari regime every support, constituting a virile, progressive and patriotic opposition, and hoping that a more honest version of democracy would be permitted in 1983, but that was not to be.
Rather 1983 saw election-rigging taking on bizarre dimension with landslide and moon slide victories being contrived for Shagari and other NPN candidates, as security agencies collaborated with NPN to once again thwart the victory of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, in the presidential election and deny the progressive candidates of the UPN their well earned victories.
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