The youth wing of Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, under the leadership of Afenifere Youth Organization of Nigeria, YAYON, has called for the restructuring of the Pan Group.
YAYON also passed a vote of no confidence on the national leader of Afenifere, Pa Ayo Adebanjo amidst his disapproval of All Progressives Congress’s presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The protest was led by a youth leader, Eric Oluwole, and the leader of the women’s wing of YAYON, Bukola Olusooto, the youths during a protest in Akure, the capital of Ondo State, said that the Yoruba Group ” needed to be sanitised.
Addressing newsmen, during their protest to the country home of the national leader of Afenifere, Pa Reuben Fasoranti, in Akure, the state capital, Oluwole said that Adebanjo should immediately step down in his capacity as the acting leader of the Afenifere.
The protesters displayed placards with various inscriptions such as ” Fasoranti please revoke the mandate you gave to Adebanjo Now, Pa Adebanjo must step down, Afenifere must restructure now, Adebanjo must go, Our vote of no confidence stands, Pa Fasoranti please rescue Afenifere;” “Ayo Adebanjo Must Go;” “Pa Ayo Adebanjo: Time to Step Aside from Afenifere, amongst others.
Oluwole, said that Fasoranti remained the authentic National Leader of the mainstream Yoruba group.
He lamented that once Adebanjo, assumed the leadership of the group, he had by his political interest, polarized the group.
“We cannot allow one leader to mortgage our future. We cannot continue like this. The only person we recognise in this Yoruba nation is our Pa Reuben Fasoranti as the National Leader of Afenifere, and he still remains as the National Leader of Afenifere.
“We hereby call on Pa Ayo Adebanjo, to step down immediately, and he should stop parading himself as the National Leader of Afenifere.
”He has been acting and we have the letter because Baba (Fasoranti) wrote him a letter then that he should act on his behalf of him.
READ MORE: Pa Fasoranti Knows Better What Yorubas Wants — Afenifere Leaders Advised To End Discord
“But now, the whole drama has changed, and the youths are involved now and we want to make sure we are part of the restructuring of Afenifere.
“We can only depend on Baba Reuben Fasoranti as the National Leader to immediately call him (Adebanjo) to order to step down immediately.
“We believe that this protest can still yield a good result but we are going to come back again massively.
“What we need is sanity in Afenifere and we believe in Pa Reuben Fasoranti’s leadership.
“Recently he said that our own father (Fasoranti) cannot talk to him and we believe that he is not the almighty God of the Yoruba nation and the universe. We still believe that we are youths and we can talk to him. But if he is unable to listen, we know what to do next.
“We are not threatening him. What we are saying is that he should step down in the interest of Afenifere. We want peace and we want Baba Reuben Fasoranti to take over.
“If you look at the tradition of Afenifere when Baba Abraham Adesanya was still alive then, he was so old and asked Pa Reuben Fasoranti to act on his behalf and according to tradition, they were still holding meetings at Ijebu-Ogbo in his house up till the time he died and they appointed Pa Reuben Fasoranti to take over as National Leader.
“The same thing is applicable to Pa Ayo Adebanjo and we believe that all Afenifere meetings ought to take place here at Pa Reuben Fasoranti’s house. Baba is still alive and still kicking.
“Recently, Pa Adebanjo sanctioned two national officers, Abagun Kunle Omololu and Jare Ajayi, the National Publicity Secretary for supporting Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, who is our own person in Yoruba land. It is like Pa Adebanjo is using his political inner mind to cause the crisis.
“His major offence is, he doesn’t have that power as of now based on the tradition of Afenifere to suspend any national officer without the consent of Baba Reuben Fasoranti.
The leader of the women’s wing of YAYON, Bukola Olusooto, said they no longer recognise Adebanjo as the Acting Leader of Afenifere.
Responding to the protesting youths, Pa Fasoranti, who spoke through his Chief Security Officer, Sunday Ogunkalu, assured them that the group was not in crisis and that lasting solutions would be found to move the group forward.
He pleaded with the youths to remain calm and conduct themselves in a peaceful manner during their protest.
Reacting, to the protest against his leadership, Pa Ayo Adebanjo said, “I don’t know them and I have repeatedly said I don’t know their father. I don’t know their parents. They are only encouraging them to be talking.
Adebanjo insisted that “I have told you they don’t exist. I think some people just gathered them and give them money to make them start talking as if something is happening in Afenifere.”
