A prominent chieftain of pan-Yoruba group Afenifere, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, has faulted the claim that a faction of the group endorsed President Muhammadu Buhari for the February 16 presidential election.
He said that the real Afenifere remains solidly behind the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, noting that those that endorsed Buhari were merely “Yoruba people in APC”.
Adebanjo made these known in an interview published by Saturday Sun.
Responding to a question on why different factions of the group endorsed Buhari and Atiku, the nonagenarian said:
It is not Afenifere that endorsed Buhari. The Yoruba people in APC gathered themselves in Osogbo and endorsed Buhari. These people who came out and claimed the name of the group are not Afenifere. Apart from this election, have you heard about them? When did they come out of their cocoon? Have they ever issued statements over the crises that have been happening in this country? Have you ever heard of any Afenifere meeting in Osogbo?
Don’t you know that Afenifere belongs to Awolowo? I don’t have to tell you about Awolowo’s supporters. The man leading this fake Afenifere knows he is claiming what he is not. When he and myself meet Awolowo very soon, he will be able to tell Awolowo that he was just confusing the Yoruba people because of his own personal interest. They just want to confuse Yoruba people. Who does not know our own Afenifere? That one is a fake organisation. What are they doing, when did they come into existence. When did you hear Afenifere meet in Osogbo? We meet in the house of the leader. What is their antecedent? Please, let’s focus on something serious and leave those people.
Everybody knows that Awolowo is the father of federalism in this country, that fake Afenifere do they believe in federalism? They should come and say that they believe in federalism and see if Buhari will not knock their heads. If you are Afenifere, are you for restructuring that will lead to federalism because that is what Awolowo is known for. If they believe that, let them come out and say so. Because of the material gain, they betrayed the Yoruba people.
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