The acting leader of Afenifere, a Pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, has said the support of the presidential aspiration of the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) Peter Obi, was in line with ideological and equitable principles of the group.
Adebanjo, who stated that the presidency is not a contest between the Yorubas and the Igbos, said Afenifere’s decision to support Obi upheld advocacy for federalism ahead of the 2023 general election.
He said this at a press conference held at WheatBaker Hotel, Ikoyi, Lagos State, on Monday.
The Afenifere leader said the decision to support Obi was in line with that of the defunct Action Group (AG), which upheld strong advocacy for federalism as the best form of government to give the federating units the requisite atmosphere to thrive and peacefully compete among themselves for the ultimate development of the country.
Adebanjo stated that Afenifere was known for its social welfarist ideology of AG founded by late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, adding that backing Obi, who hails from the South-East as the next president of Nigeria, was Afenifere’s modest contribution to shaping Nigeria into a federation, where no person or ethnic nationality is oppressed.
Adebanjo said Afenifere had insisted and still advocated restructuring in the countdown to the 2023 general election, and before the parties conducted their conventions to select their executives and candidates.
He said: “Let me state here for the benefit of those who may not know that Afenifere is the Yoruba interpretation of the social welfarist ideology of Action Group, a political party founded by Chief Obafemi Awolowo and his colleagues in 1951 with strong advocacy for federalism as the best form of government to give the federating units the requisite autonomy to thrive and peacefully compete among themselves for the ultimate development of Nigeria.
“The system was eventually agreed to by our founding fathers, Sir Ahmad Bello, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, and Chief Obafemi Awolowo, and endorsed by the Colonial Secretary, Sir Oliver Littleton in 1954 and embodied in the 1960 independence constitution.
“This is the modest contribution of Afenifere in shaping Nigeria into a federation where no person or ethnic nationality is oppressed.
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“In the countdown to the 2023 general election, long before the parties conducted their conventions to elect their national executives and candidates, we had insisted and still advocate restructuring before the elections proposing a synthesis of the identical Resolutions of the 2014 National Conference and the APC El Rufai 2018 True Federalism Committee. We did this as Afenifere and on the wider spectrum of the Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum (SMBLF).
“We did this, when politicians, in spite of the monumental crises confronting the nation, carried on as if the attainment of power was all that mattered, the SMBLF unanimously proposed that the minimum condition for a peaceful transition from the disastrous 8 years of Buhari’s government headed by a President of northern extraction was to have the next President from the South.
“This position was also supported by all the southern governors, irrespective of their political parties at a meeting held in Asaba, Delta State.
“Incidentally, this North/South consideration which is at the very root of our amalgamated federation is also the most important testament of all political parties in Nigeria. The principle of federal character enshrined in the constitution dictates that the government of the federation or any part thereof shall not be concentrated in any ethnic group or a combination of such groups.
“It is therefore preposterous to adopt this principle for employment in public service admissions in educational institutions, political appointment, the composition of the executive committee of a political party only to jettison it in the most important question of rulership of the federation,” the Afenifere leader said.
Adebanjo added that by virtue of the zoning arrangement that has governed Nigeria since 1999, power is supposed to return to the South imminently, noting that the Igbos should not be excluded from the power dynamic.
“The South-West as I have pointed out has produced a president and currently sits as VP, the South-South has spent a total of 6 years in the Presidency, but the Igbo people of the South-East have never tasted presidency in Nigeria, and now that the power is due back in the South equity demands that it be ceded to the Igbo.
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“We cannot continue to demand that the Igbo people remain in Nigeria, while we at the same time continue to brutally marginalise and exclude them from the power dynamic.
“Peter Obi is the person of Igbo extraction that Afenifere has decided to support and to back, he is the man we trust to restructure the country back to federalism on the assumption of office.
“We will not compromise this principle of justice, equity and inclusiveness because one of our own Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is a frontline candidate.
“It is on this same principle, we condemn the PDP for sponsoring Atiku Abubakar, a Northern “Fulani Muslim to succeed General Muhammadu Buhari another Fulani Muslim who will soon complete 8 years of uneventful and disastrous rule. One can imagine such a high degree of political insensitivity.
“On our part, we are certainly not alien to sacrificing personal interests in the quest for a National coalition to put Nigeria on the proper pedestal.
“In this regard, the starting point is Southern solidarity for which we first enacted a handshake across the Niger, which had dovetailed to the Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum.
“We enjoin the labour movement, students, youth organisations, women associations, and every institution whose foundation is built on fairness and justice to join hands in this task of enthroning a democratic government by supporting Peter Obi.
“If we are sincere and honest about keeping Nigeria together in peace, the slogan henceforth should be ‘To keep Nigeria one, everyone should be Obi/Datti compliant,” the Afenifere leader stated.
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