The Afenifere leaders, led by Pa Ayo Fasanmi, held the meeting at the House of Chiefs, Parliament Building, Secretariat Agodi, in Ibadan.
Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
Notable leaders of the pan-Yoruba socio-cultural and political organisation, Afenifere, rose from a meeting which lasted for about three hours on Thursday, in Ibadan, capital of Oyo State, and endorsed the candidature of President Muhammadu Buhari of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for re-election in February 2019.
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The leaders, who came from the six states in the South West, also fixed January 29, 2019 for an official declaration for Buhari and his deputy, Yemi Osinbajo.
The Afenifere leaders, led by Pa Ayo Fasanmi, held the meeting at the House of Chiefs, Parliament Building, Secretariat Agodi, in Ibadan.
The resolution was reached by Yoruba leaders including former governor of old Oyo state, Dr. Omololu Olunloyo, former deputy governor of Lagos and Oyo states, Prince Biodun Ogunleye and Iyiola Oladokun, respectively, Dr. Abayomi Finnih; son of the late Pa Adekunle Ajasin, a former governor of old Ondo State, Tokunbo, and former commissioner for Lands in Osun State and son of Chief Bola Ige, former Minister of Justice, Muyiwa. The roll call also included Senator Olabiyi Durojaiye, Mr. Ayo Afolabi, Prof Adebayo Ademudi, Oladosu Oladipo, Tajudeen Olusi, and chairman of Ekiti State chapter of Afenifere, Chief Akin Fasae.
Briefing newsmen at the end of the meeting, Fasae said: “We have decided to host Yorubaland in Ibadan, on January 29, next year. It is to proclaim the support of Yorubaland for president Buhari in 2019, and also, to tell the whole world that Afenifere, which Chief Obafemi Awolowo (former premier of the Western Region) created before he left, is still intact as a progressive movement. And any Afenifere person, who is not in the progressive, is not part of us. “We are now telling the Yoruba people and the whole world that Afenifere, as enunciated and enacted by Chief Awolowo is still intact and we are going to support president Buhari and Prof Osinbajo; come the presidential election in February 2019.”
Giving more information about the January 29, 2019 Declaration, Fasae said that “the owner of the mandate of the Yoruba people is APC. The six governors of Yorubaland are APC. Speakers of all Houses of Assembly in Yorubaland are APC. So, we have six speakers.
“Those people in other group of Afenifere, none of them has ever contested election. Go and research it. So, they don’t have any mandate. The Afenifere we are talking here has the mandate of the Yoruba people, and you will see them here, all of them,” and added that Osinbajo and progressive
leaders of Yoruba nation would attend the January 29 declaration. Fasae dismissed the notion that Afenifere should not be playing partisan politics by endorsing a political party.
“Yoruba, as a nation, must have a political interest. So, when they tell us this is their political interest, as Afenifere, we must support them. This is just the point. We cannot say because Afenifere and Yoruba people want this, then, we’ll run away from them. No, we don’t do that.”
In response to the endorsement of the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, by the Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG), Fasae said: “The Afenifere we know in Yorubaland is progressive. And this is where we are in Ibadan. The other Afenifere that is talking about Atiku is the Ayo Adebanjo. They are not part of us. They are usurpers in the group.”
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Here they go again. This unreliable set of people. The Yoruba on the march again to giving this evil man another four hellish years. Supporting a LIFELESS man .
Which Afenifere is this one jare? And who is this neo-usurper of Afenifere leadership, Pa Ayo
Fasanmi jare?
Barely a month after the demise of that Great Son of Oduduwa , a Noble Nigerian Patriot and
a devout Christian ,Dr Frederick Fasheun,some neo-Omo Afonja Quislings seem to have usurped
OPC Leadership.
But in their above roll-call, such prominent names like,Chief Rueben Fasoranti,Chief Femi Okurou,Generalissmo Otunba Gani Adams et al,were missing.
They even dared drag the name of the Sage, Chief Obafemi Jeremiah Oyeniyi Awolowo in their act of treachery ,forgetting that Buhari as our Military Head of State, did order the insulting raids of the Sage’s residence both in Lagos and his Ikene home town.
This endorsement of Pa Ayo Fasanmi and his neo- Afenifere cohorts ,is tantamout to the opening of a Pandora Box,which will usher in some unpredictable dire consequences,should Buhari win the 2019 Presidential Election.
Oh dear! What a shameless act of betrayal indeed.
I do reckon that the late Dr. Frederick Fasheun must now be moving in grave for this unforegivable
act of betrayal of his noble legacy.
Yoruba Ronu!!
Only looters of our treasury, economic saboteurs and useless importers are the haters of Buhari.
Ezekiel you must be sleeping. Steal or loot today Buhari’s APC will give you cover if you join the party. By 2019 after being kicked out of Aso villa and Buhari’s Government is probed by PDP which is clearly cruising ahead of APC you will be shocked by the volume of looting your Mr. INTERGRITY presided over.
A presidential aspirant in the person of ATIKU is giving us hope that nigeria will be restructured. Surprisingly the Yoruba ethnic group that has been calling for restructuring is endorsing a man that has destroyed nigeria within just three years in office.