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Afenifere faction picks dep. leader
THOMAS IMONIKHE,
(Deputy Political Editor), and
SINA FADARE
PAN-YORUBA
socio-political organisation, Afenifere, yesterday elected Second
Republic Senator Ayo Fasanmi as its new deputy leader.
He replaces the late Chief Bola Ige (SAN),
former Justice Minister and Attorney General of the Federation who was
assassinated by yet-to be identified gun men on December 23, 2001.
The organisation also pledged loyalty to
Pa Abraham Adesanya, its leader.
Fasanmi was elected by delegates from
seven Yoruba speaking states of Lagos, Oyo, Osun, Ondo, Ekiti, Kwara and Kogi
States at the national congress of the association held in Lagos but boycotted
by its leaders backing the Senator Mojisoluwa Akinfenwa faction of the Alliance
for Democracy (AD).
Absent at the congress, which also
resolved to separate Afenifere from the AD, were the organisation’s
substantive and acting leaders Pa Abraham Adesaya and Chief Reuben Fasoranti
respectively, as well as Senator Akinfenwa.
Other notable absentees included Chief Olu
Falae, Chief Ayo Adebanjo and former Governor Adebayo Adefarati of Ondo State.
But prominent delegates present at the
congress, which held at the Afenifere headquarters at Jibowu, Lagos
included AD faction National chairman Chief Bisi Akande, Governor Bola Tinubu of
Lagos State, former governors Olusegun Osoba (Ogun), Niyi Adebayo (Ekiti), Lam
Adesina (Oyo) and Odua Peoples Congress (OPC) leader Dr. Fredrick Fasheun.
In a communique issued yesterday and
signed by the administrative secretary of Afenifere Mr. Yinka Odumekin,
the organisation said Fasanmi was unanimously elected to oversee the full
implementation of the re-structuring and re-engineering programme of the
pan-Yoruba body in accordance with the existing approved structure and
constitution.
According to communique, Afenifere
has to be separated from AD in order to bring sanity and credibility to the
socio-political organisation, recently bedevilled by internal wranglings over
its political position.
"Afenifere and AD should be
separate entities, therefore Afenifere will henceforth revert to its
traditional role of the vanguard of the Yoruba people," the communique said.
The congress also elected General Alani
Akinrinade as the chairman of its political committee to be directly responsible
for the implementation of the restructuring and re-organisation programme of
Afenifere.
In his speech after his election, Senator
Fasanmi assured that the organisation would be re-structured and re-focused in
order to meet the yearnigns and aspiration of Yorubas.
The congress further affirmed its confidence in members of
Afenifere central working committee (CWC) and mandated Mr. Odumakin to
continue to serve in his current dual positions of administrative and publicity
secretary.
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