Politics

2023: “Tinubu is Afenifere’s Pick of the Bunch, Not Peter Obi”, Fasoranti Counters Adebanjo

Published

2 years ago

Nov 2, 2022.

Fasoranti has disregarded Adebanjo’s endorsement of Peter Obi, saying Afenifere endorsed Tinubu.

Eko Hot Blog reports that the former leader of the socio-political group, Afenifere, Reuben Fasoranti, has said the group never endorsed the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi.

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In an interview on Tuesday, Fasoranti said the group endorsed Obi’s rival, Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), instead.

He was reacting to comments made by Afenifere leader, Ayo Adebajo, who stood by his endorsement of Obi.

Adebanjo said he was supporting Obi based on the principle of equity and federal character as enshrined in Nigeria’s constitution.

The Afenifere leader noted that the south-west “has produced a president and currently sits as VP; the south-south has spent a total of six years in the presidency, but the Igbo people of the south-east have never tasted presidency in Nigeria”.

“Now that the power is due back in the south, equity demands that it be ceded to the Igbo,” he said.

Ayo Adebanjo

However, Fasoranti disagreed with Adebanjo, saying he is still the leader of the Afenifere and the group has not endorsed Obi.

The nonagenarian stated that the LP presidential candidate has “no standing in our mind at all.”

“I am still the leader of Afenifere. Afenifere has not endorsed Obi, we are endorsing Jagaban (Bola Tinubu) for the presidency,” he said.

“As you can see, the trend, the approval and the acceptability. You could see what happened when Tinubu came to meet me in Akure.

“The media carried the whole thing. Adebanjo does not have the capacity to warn me not to welcome Tinubu. Can he do that successfully?

“What happened was that Adebanjo took a stand and I took a stand. I didn’t call him and he didn’t call me. We never spoke about the (Tinubu’s) visit. As you can see, Jagaban is accepted and we approve of him. Obi has no standing in our mind at all.”