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Adesanya disowns Afenifere meeting
PA ABRAHAM Adesanya, leader of the Pan-Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, has distanced himself from the group's convention stated for tomorrow.
Adesanya, who spoke yesterday in his Lagos home, insisted that if such convention would hold, the acting leader of the organisation, Chief Reuben Fashoranti, would have informed him.
"Fashoranti has my full authority to act as the leader of Afenifere and he is the only one that says anything authoritatively on the position of the organisation. Nobody else has the authority," Adesanya declared.
Adesanya, who declined to say anything on the Alliance for Democracy (AD), however claimed ignorance of the convention held last Wednesday by a faction of the party.
He claimed that the position of the Afenifere has not changed from the decision reached at the August 19 Akure meeting of the group.
He called on all members of the group to respect his position by supporting Fashoranti.
His words: "Afenifere is still what it is today, it has not changed. The only thing is that we have an acting leader in my capacity and he has my full authority to steer the ship of this organisation. That is what I will want made clear to everybody. Nobody should challenge his authority.
"The question does not even arise and I don't think anyone is challenging his authority. In the last meeting we had, I made the point clear again to everybody. I made it clear to everyone when I was going to the UK," he said.
Also present was Fashoranti, who said the clarification became necessary because "there is a young man on our payroll, our Administrative Secretary, Yinka Odumakin, who has been making statements on behalf of Afenifere as if he has the authority to do so. I have the full authority of Papa (Adesanya) to act on his behalf.
"As for the so-called meeting of Afenifere on Tuesday (tomorrow), there is nothing like that. It does not have our blessing. In fact we are not aware".
Describing Odumakin's actions as rebellious, Fashoranti said: "He (Odumakin) has been going around saying all sorts of things he does not have the authority to say. In fact, we consider his actions as rebellion. We have ways of sanctioning our recalcitrant members. If he persists, we shall set up a machinery to keep him in check".
On the last AD convention in Lagos, he said: "That convention has been unnecessarily orchestrated. The organisers just managed to deceive people to attend. If what they did initially was right, they would not have easily jettisoned it and called for a new one. It just shows they knew, all along that what they did was not right. They just decided to compromise some people by this so-called convention which was stage-managed. They already knew who they wanted. It was all a charade. That is the position of the Afenifere".
And if the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) decides to give the latest convention recognition, he said: "Well that is INEC's problem, if that is the way they look at it, that is their problem. I cannot challenge them. But it will create doubts in the minds of the people."
Otunba Abagun Koleosho Omololu, the leader of the group in Europe who was present, said: "There was a time we used to say that the Yoruba cannot do some things, but these days we are getting there fast.
"What is happening in Afenifere today is purification, where the wheat shall be removed from the chaff. We want to know the real progressives.
"Odumakin is being used to cause confusion in Afenifere. Some people are obviously desperate to dismember the organisation. This organisation has been in existence since the early 50s. Some people do not just like the cohesion of the group. They have confused the Alliance for Democracy and now they want to do the same to Afenifere," he added.
However, Fashoranti said the organisation would find ways of bringing all recalcitrant members back to its fold.
"We have a way of doing that. That has always be the method of the organisation," he said.
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