Obi's Approval: You Can't Speak for Us Yoruba, Afenifere Says to Akeredolu

The Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, has criticized Ondo State Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu for saying the group is split over the endorsement of the Labor Party (LP) presidential candidate ), Peter Obi.

The General Secretary of Afenifere, Chief Sola Ebiseni, in a statement to Akure, said yesterday that the Governor of Ondo could neither speak on behalf of the Yoruba race nor of Afenifere on the approval of Obi before the 2023 general elections.

Akeredolu, who is also the southwest presidential campaign coordinator for the All Progressives Congress (APC), reportedly said, "Afenifere does not speak on behalf of the Yoruba people on the endorsement of LP presidential candidate Peter Obi and "Afenifere is split over the alleged endorsement."

But Ebiseni said: "While we have our respect for Governor Akeredolu and his colleagues in the Southern Governors Forum, which he heads, on their position that it is right that the next President of Nigeria (after Buhari's eight years of mining from the North), should come from the South;

"We will not lend our support to those who betray this cause for the benefit of vice-presidential mush or to those who view fairness only through the parochial prism of their own ethnic advantages.

"We wish to affirm for the umpteenth time that Afenifere is not an apolitical Yoruba socio-cultural organization, but since its inception, a political machinery, as the embodiment of the worldview of the Awolowo school of thought on how Nigeria, a country of ancient and entrenched nationalities, is better off being governed fairly, inclusively and peacefully.

“These reflections are encapsulated in the theory and practice of true federalism in its fair and logical dimensions. This philosophy, which has inexorably become the vision of the Yoruba, also defines Afenifere's position, either as the initiator of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), or on restructuring and the need not to deprive the South East of his Nigerian presidency. >

He added: "Those who seek to abridge or diminish the full effect of this alliance on the altar of cheap partisan or tribal interests cannot claim to speak in the name of the Yoruba, and Afenifere does not is not in competition with them.

"Yoruba people know organization, which speaks for them, making tough decisions that others may initially despise but eventually come to embrace."