Festus Keyamo, the spokesperson for the All Progressives Congress campaign council, believes it is wrong to blame the problem now afflicting the leadership of Pan-Yoruba organisation Afenifere on the visit of APC presidential candidate Bola Tinubu to Pa Reuben Fasoranti.
Tinubu had visited Fasoranti at his villa in Akure, the Ondo State capital, two weeks ago and got the elder statesman’s endorsement.
The action was criticized by Afenifere’s ‘acting’ leader, Pa Ayo Adebanjo, who called the former Lagos State governor’s visit a well-planned attempt to fracture the organization.
A furious Adebanjo, who earlier endorsed Labour Party’s presidential flag bearer, Peter Obi, aired his grievance on ‘Politics Today’, a popular programme on Channels Television barely 24 hours after Tinubu’s visit.
He said, “Nothing is going on other than an attempt to split Afenifere to which I will not be a party. It is a sort of conspiracy among those who want to see Afenifere divided.
“They have been on this plan for over a month and my members came to me to alert me about it and I said, ‘Don’t talk about it. It would be a diversion’. All we want now is an election on issues.”
Reacting to the allegation that his principal’s visit was the reason for the group’s crisis, Keyamo, speaking to newsmen disclosed that there was no iota of truth in the report.
“The real reason for Afenifere’s wrangling is Pa Adebanjo who rushed to endorse a candidate without proper consultation in the organisation to which he belongs.
“The fact that you are made deputy leader does not make you a dictator. I had listened to him in one of his interviews saying ‘That’s not how we do it’. How do they do it? That one person sits and takes a profound decision like that without talking to anyone or your fellow elders within the same organisation?
“Pa Adebanjo should tell the entire Nigeria who and who he spoke with within Afenifere that gave him the go-ahead to endorse Obi. It is down to just bias and sheer hatred for Asiwaju. That’s all. That was exactly what pushed him to make mistake.”
