The Olugbon of Orile Igbon, Oba Francis Alao, has berated the acting leader of the apex Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere, Pa Ayo Adebanjo, for rejecting Asiwaju Bola Tinubu as the president-elect.
He said Yoruba monarchs recognise only Pa Reuben Fasoranti as the authentic leader of Afenifere, not Adebanjo.
The monarch stated this while featuring on Southwest Political Circuit, a programme on Fresh 105.9FM, Ibadan on Saturday.
Adebanjo recently claimed that Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) won the election and not Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress ((APC) who was declared winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC).
Adebanjo’s Afenifere also suspended its spokesman Jare Ajayi for issuing a statement recognising Tinubu as the president-elect.
But Oba Alao said Nigerians chose the president-elect for justice, equity and unity.
He said: “Everybody who voted for Tinubu wanted the country to be united. That is what the presidential election symbolises. The victory of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu symbolises unity, equity and justice.
“Tinubu is not the interest of Yoruba alone, he is the interest of the whole Nigeria. Thank God the election has spoken well. The people have voted.”
The monarch, who campaigned for Tinubu in the build-up to the presidential election, also criticised Adebanjo for claiming that his support for Obi was the position of Afenifere.
He noted that traditional rulers across the South West only recognise the Afenifere group led by Pa Reuben Fasoranti.
“I think Adebanjo is having this old age syndrome.
“Adebanjo has lost it. He is a man that we both share some views together, we do talk. I think the way he is driving this issue of Afenifere is like the group belongs to his faction.
“The real Afenifere that the traditional rulers recognize today is that of Fasoranti because Fasoranti’s leadership does not comprise only the elders in Ondo State, it does not comprise only the elders in Ogun State, it does not comprise only the elders in Oyo State; the elders cross across the entire South West states.
“But if the likes of Adebanjo will just sit down in his room and just come up with some few guys and said look, this is our agenda in the name of Afenifere, we disagree with it. It is a mere fluke. Adebanjo is not representing any Yoruba interest, he is not representing any South West interest. The only Afenifere we traditional rulers recognise today is led by Fasoranti and if we are talking about traditional rulers, it is across all the South West states.
“Baba has not behaved in an elderly way, his behaviour is so primordial and very parochial. If you say you are Afenifere, then, it should be in the interest of Yoruba, not in the interest of any other thing.
“The people of South West, North West, North East, North Central, South South and across Nigeria have spoken and they vehemently spoke that this is the person that they have voted as their president. In this kind of world, there are many channels. You go straight to the judiciary if you are aggrieved about Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu; you can go to the judiciary and explain yourself,” he said.
Oba Alao further said Adebanjo and former president Olusegun Obasanjo are suffering from entitlement mentality, adding that they can no longer be regarded as elder statesmen.
He said: “These people have this entitlement mentality, that it must be we, it must be us.
“Adebanjo and Chief Olusegun Obasanjo are suffering from old age syndrome and self entitlement. I know the two of them personally.
“As a matter of fact, Baba (Obasanjo) has a right to his own opinion. If you say you are not going to vote for your kinsman, no problem; but if you are in a position of an elder statesman, don’t be the prosecutor, the judge and also the investigator. They are in the position of ‘I will be the one to arrest, I will be the one to prosecute, I will be the one to judge.’ So, you are not an elder statesman anymore.”
Credit- The Nation
