Jonathan splits Afenifere

All is not too well within the Yoruba socio-political orga­nization Afenifere, espe­cially with the disquiet and raging controversy over the recent adoption of Presi­dent Goodluck Jonathan as preferred candidate for the February 14 presiden­tial poll.

Following the declara­tion of its support for Presi­dent Jonathan last Monday, tongues have been wagging, as Afenifere members who held dissenting opinion con­tinued to cast aspersion on the leadership. This is even as the aggrieved members have dissociated themselves from the Jonathan endorse­ment, alleging that the let­terhead of the Afenifere used was forged.

A concerned source who spoke with Sunday Sun par­ticularly accused the General Secretary of the Afenifere, Chief Seinde Arogbofa and the association’s spokesper­son, Yinka Odumakin, of taking the unilateral deci­sion, which according to him, was at variance with the communiqué issued at the end of the group’s meeting.

Further findings re­vealed how the leadership kept the disagreeing mem­bers in abeyance until the president’s arrival in Akure, Ondo State when they sud­denly read an address de­claring unsolicited support for his re-election bid.

The aggrieved source, who linked the intrigue to the handiwork of Chief Seinde Arogbofa, said his younger brother, Brigadier Jones Arogbofa is the chief of staff to President Jona­than. The trade-off, accord­ing to the source, was to help the chief of staff who must be keen on getting the Yoruba to support his boss’s re-election bid.

“That is not what we agreed on at our meeting. We held a meeting and we agreed that we should not mention anybody’s name among the presidential can­didates. We agreed that we should only talk about what each candidate stands for and then direct our people to vote for anyone that has approxi­mated our position. In the communiqué we issued, we agreed to support any candi­date that demonstrated com­mitment to implementation of the national conference report; ensure devolution of powers and reduce the cost of governance.

“Later, we learnt that the president was coming. But because they knew that some of us would oppose his adop­tion, they read an exact op­posite of what we agreed on in their welcome address. Because his brother is the president’s chief of staff and he had probably promised to get Afenifere’s backing for the president.

He just abandoned what we all agreed on and read a different position.

“There is no doubt that Odumakin and the general secretary have doctored the communiqué because they had opposition in the meet­ing. They allowed all mem­bers present at the meeting to leave before they announced the adoption. Even the presi­dent has not even asked for their support before they declared their support,” the source said.

During the president’s visit, Odumakin had based the endorsement on the com­mitment of the present ad­ministration to implement the recommendations of the report of the National Con­ference 2014.

However, accusations have been raised of an al­leged exchange of money for the deal. “All of us want to be rich, but we must learn to do things with decorum,” said another source who ex­pressed disappointment at the group’s declaration.

Efforts to get Odumakin’s reaction did not succeed, as he ignored several calls to his mobile phone.

However, an elder states­man and chieftain of the Afenifere, Chief Ayo Ade­banjo, clarifying the group’s position in an interview with Sunday Sun, insisted that the declaration was in con­sonance with the resolution reached at the meeting.

Adebanjo accused those raising issues about Jona­than’s adoption of being hypocritical. His words: “I am one of those who passed the resolution. And we have given the reasons for our ac­tion. Our decision is based on national confab. Anybody who will implement that pro­gramme is our man. We are not concerned about the past of Nigeria; we are concerned about its future, we are con­cerned about what will make us live together in peace.”

Asked for further clarifi­cation on whether or not the adoption was a unanimous resolution of the members, he said though there was a dissenting opinion, but ma­jority had its way.

“What position did we take? We are supporting Jon­athan for him to implement the report of the national confab.

What other position are they talking about? My dear, Afenifere is not noted for hide-and-seek. When we said anybody who can implement the programme; is it Buhari who does not believe in the confab that will implement the report? Why are you playing hide-and-seek? That is what they feel and majority said no. We are not noted for pretence. We did not mention any candidate by name but we mentioned it by descrip­tion. Between you and I, who is in a position to implement the report, Buhari or Jona­than? Afenifere is known for calling a spade a spade. Somebody set up a national conference and promised he was going to implement it.

Another person said no, he did not believe in it. As far as we are concerned, we know the person who will implement it even though we did not mention him by name, we mentioned him by description. Afenifere is not a hypocritical organization and we have no hypocrites in our midst. To say that we want someone who will implement the programme without mentioning Jonathan is hypocritical. There was a dissenting view, but not in majority.”

Meanwhile, there are other members who felt that the declaration was not good enough for the image of the organization. Some people have also argued that Af­enifere’s adoption of Jona­than was to deliberately spite the leadership of the All Pro­gressives Congress (APC) in the South-west that has been accused of neglecting the group.

From all indications, the stake is high for the South-west chapter of the APC, which is all out to deliver a bloc vote for its presidential candidate, Gen Muhammadu Buhari. The Peoples Demo­cratic Party (PDP), on the other hand, is not only con­cerned about Jonathan’s vic­tory, but also determined to reclaim the lost states in the region in this election.

In this regard, the extent to which Afenifere’s declara­tion of support for Jonathan will influence the voting pat­tern in the election is what many Yoruba are looking forward to see in days ahead.

By OMONIYI SALAU­DEEN