EVERY part of Nigeria has some peculiarities culturally, geographically and politically. Each of the three big geo-political divisions of the country is sufficiently important to attract the attention of analysts. The South West is probably the most homogenous of the three, thus necessitating special attention. This is more so since real politics and politicking in the modern sense started in the area. The early exposure of Yorubaland to western education led to the establishment of the first schools, the first newspapers, the emergence of the first set of social elite, the first political parties and consequently the first set of agitators against colonial oppression.
Partisan politics could therefore be said to have started in Yorubaland. Is Yorubaland still in the lead especially in terms of sophistication of strategy or has it yielded ground to others? If so, when and how? Is anything being done today to modify age-old strategies used to advance the cause of the people within a multi-cultural setting? What exactly are the current leaders doing and what has been left undone?
The untold story
IF the true story of the crisis that is currently rocking Afenifere, the pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation must be told, it has to be located in the steady decline in the quality of leadership. True, at the head of the organisation today is a respected Senator Abraham Adesanya, the other structures to support him function only at the whims of the leader. The constitution allows for a Central Working Committee to manage the group on a day to day basis with the Congress meeting periodically to respond to issues; but that is in theory. In practice, leaders of the group known to the public prior to the recent open disagreement were Senator Adesanya, Chief Ayo Adebanjo and Sir Olanihun Ajayi. When that bracket is expanded, there are governors, former governors, Senators and other accomplished Yoruba men. Decisions rested mostly on the first tier since there was hardly any functional officer or office. Younger men were shut off the process and that affected the quality of decisions.
Almost three years after the death of Chief Ige, the prominent leaders could not make up their minds who should succeed him. In the same vein, about two years after the exit of Mr Ayo Opadokun, the erstwhile General Secretary of the group, the office remains vacant. This is seen as evidence that a decay had set in and must have influenced the resolve of a powerful group within the organisation to force a change, the result of which came to the fore in last week’s sweeping changes introduced by a faction of the organisation.
Today, there are two factions of Afenifere, one headed, at least in temporary capacity, by Chief Reuben Fasoranti, from Akure, and the other by Senator Ayo Fasanmi, an old colleague of Senator Adesanya in the Second Republic Senate. Both lay claim to legitimacy and pretend to accept the leadership of Senator Adesanya. There is however no doubt that, to both factions, the Adesanya era is gone. Both want to be well positioned for the eventual undisputed leadership of the organisation.
But, who is likely to succeed Senator Adesanya when eventually it is time to choose the next leader?
The options
The split in the ranks requires that attention be first paid to moves to have a united front. The Fasoranti front has announced the appointment of Senator Femi Okurounmu as Acting Secretary General and Chief Supo Shonibare as the Publicity Secretary. It has refused to announce anything as rash as the sack of members of the other group and rather pretended that all was well by confirming Mr Yinka Odumakin, one of the arrow heads of the other group as the Administrative Secretary.
In the other group, to support Senator Fasanmi is Yinka Odumakin as the Administrative/Publicity Secretary while a well respected Gen. Alani Akinrinade was named the new chairman of the committee saddled with the all-important task of restructuring the organisation. There are fears that it might be difficult to call the two factions to order with the new resolve by both to project themselves as the authentic faction. This might make the possibility of finding a worthy successor that would represent the whole group impossible.
However, in the event that the groups could once again collapse into one, the likely candidates are Chief Ayo Adebanjo, believed to be the longest in the leadership of the political family, Chief Reuben fasoranti who was catapulted into relevance in the equation with his appointment as Acting Leader, Chief Olu Falae who might be considered in the unlikely event that a decision is taken to bring in a younger man with wide appeal.
On the Fasanmi side are the former governors of Ogun and Oyo States, Chief Segun Osoba and Alhaji Lam Adesina respectively. There is also a possibility that General Akinrinade or Professor Bolaji Akinyemi could be brought in from outside the political core.
2007 connection
The battle for succession and, by extension, is at the heart of the struggle within the Afenifere fold. The situation has been compounded by the crisis in Alliance for Democracy (AD). With an eye on 2007, each group is intent on selling itself as the group to be reckoned with and negotiate with. It has become increasingly clear that the AD might have to align with some of the groups in the land if it is to make any impact at the polls. Chief Akinfenwa who has insisted that he is the fit and proper person to be addressed as the party chairman has taken his battle to the Afenifere lords and he got the nod of the Akure group in July.
This id not go down well with the Fasanmi group and this has opened a new chapter in the struggle. It is believed that the Fasoranti group is throwing its weight behind the former AD Senate leader with a view to preventing the governor of Lagos State, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu from emerging as the leader of the party, thus having a large say in what shape alliances towards the 2007 presidential election would take.
The reality on the ground is that Tinubu remains the only senior government official in the party today. He has a wider appeal outside the South West than the other leader and has more access to funds needed to lubricate the machine. This might prove the decisive factor as the struggle intensify in the coming year.
Another factor likely to work in favour of the Fasanmi group is the crop of loyal, dynamic and dedicated young men in the group. The likes of Prince Dayo Adeyeye, Mr Jimi Agbaje, Mr Niyi Afuye and Mr Yinka Odumakin could make the difference when the time comes. This layer is absent in the other group.
The September 29 Convention held in Lagos is a big plus for the Fasanmi/Tinubu/Akande faction. The convention proved that the faction has managed to draw out majority of those who had earlier queued behind Senator Akinfenwa. When the AD crisis took its new turn late last year, pitting two erstwhile lieutenants of the late Chief Bola Ige against themselves, it was widely believed that the presidency was the sponsor of the Akinfenwa group. The central role played by a former chairman of the party, Alhaji Ahmed Abdulkadir pointed in that direction.
Many of those who drifted towards the group did so in the expectation that the president would properly fund the group. This, sources indicate, has not been forthcoming, thus necessitating a rethink. At the well attended Lagos Convention, almost all members of the National Convention Committee unanimously constituted by the stakeholders in the presence of INEC last year before the split in December were in Lagos for the Convention. A high powered INEC delegation was on hand to observe proceedings, while the South West AD presented a united front. If anything, the convention proved that the people had come together to save the party from a possible INEC hammer in case they were unable to freely elect leaders ahead of the October ending deadline.
The Fasanmi/Akande/Tinubu group certainly has the upper hand in the political court and in the heart of die hard supporters of Afenifere/AD.
It is interesting to note that the Yoruba Council of Elders, allegedly funded from Aso Rock to pave the way for the emergence of the PDP in the last election has been silent in the past one year, probably owing to the demise of Chief Ige, the transition of Justice Adewale Thomson and the result of the last election which indicates that there is no need for the group again. This is good news for Afenifere if it succeeds in putting its house in order.
Yoruba politics in perspective
Prior to 1922 when the Hugh Clifford Constitution introduced the electoral principle into Nigerian politics, unofficial representation in the central legislature was the only means of participation in the politics of the era. And, since nomination was reserved for the Governor General, the choice of representatives of the colonial people was made among professionals of the period who were educated enough to understand the business of governance and considered gentlemen who would ordinarily not rock the boat.
All that changed with the enactment of the 1922 law and the grand entry of a more radical Herbert Macaulay into the scene. Macaulay, a grandson of the first African Bishop, was not disposed to that kind of politics. He had an axe to grind against the colonial state and the oppression that necessarily was an ingredient of the system. As the first surveyor in the land, he had suffered untold deprivation in the colonial civil service and had come to the conclusion that the only way out was to arouse the people to overthrow the yoke. That marked the commencement of agitation politics in the land and it was again led by the Yoruba with the obvious leader being Herbert Macaulay.
From Herbert Macaulay’s Nigerian National Democratic party (NNDP), to the Union of Young Nigerians, the Lagos Youth Movement to the Nigerian Youth Movement, the Yoruba held sway and Yorubaland in general, and Lagos in particular constituted the theatre. The scene did not significantly change until the 1940s when, following the Second World war, and political development at the local level, tactics necessarily changed and other parts of the country caught the bug.
Owing to internal convulsion within the NYM, the National Convention of Nigeria and the Cameroons, NCNC (which later became the National Council of Nigerian Citizens), was established in 1944 by the late Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe who had become a leading light of the NYM by the end of the 1930s. The party had special attraction to the Igbos while not shutting its doors against the Yoruba political elite who found the attachment to tradition by the NYM appalling.
At the same time, the North was not left out in the development of the period. The few professionals in the region led by the first medical doctor, Dr R. A. B. Dikko, the editor of an influential Gaskiya Ta fi Kwabo, Mallam Abubakar Imam and Mallam D. A. Rafih of Nigerian railway Corporation were at the forefront of awakening the North to the realities of the age.
To advance to full-fledge political parties, the political leaders of the period found it convenient to first found socio-political movements. In the North, it was Mutanen Jamiyyar Arewa, in the East, the Igbo State Union and, in the West, Egbe Omo Oduduwa. In the South West, Chief Obafemi Awolowo who was the moving spirit behind the first pan-Yoruba socio-cultural organisation decided, in 1951, to transform the group to a political, the Action Group. From that moment, the Yoruba became more organised and came to accept the need to belong to an exclusive group in order to enhance their standing in the comity of Nigerian nations.
Throughout the 50s up till the crisis of the early 60s, the AG competed fiercely for political control of the West against a formidable NCNC. While the NCNC had special appeal among the elite in urban setting in the region, the people at the grassroots found the traditional appeal of the AG quite fascinating. The whole of Yorubaland did not accept Chief Awolowo as the undisputed leader of the race until the 1962 crisis which was interpreted to mean an attempt to wipe out their political centre. In the 1950s, a period Awo used to firm up his political philosophy and build up his empire, he had able lieutenants in the late Chief Bode Thomas who was first Secretary general of the group and later the deputy leader, Chief S.L.A. Akintola who succeeded Thomas and late Chief Adekunle Ajasin, among others.
Just before the 1962 crisis which marked the beginning of another phase in Yorubaland, Awo and his close comrades had decided to expand into other parts of the country. The AG was in alliance with Eyo Ita-led United Nigeria Independence party (UNIP) in the Eastern Region, the United Middle Belt Congress (UMBC) and Borno Youth Movement in the Northern Region.
Besides, non Yorubas had been given key roles to play in the party. Chief Anthony Enahoro was made Vice President while S. G. Ikoku was made the General Secretary. The party had become more ideological and became determined to play greater roles in the national political setting.
The coup of 1966 marked the end of that era. Military incursion into the political scene and the position occupied by Chief Awolowo in the Gowon regime easily helped him become the phenomenon that he became in the land. He became the prima donna and his leadership could not be questioned by former rivals in the NCNC. All through the 70s when Chief Awolowo prepared for post-Gowon politics, he was sure of the support of the vast majority of the people. As a disciplined and tested administrator, he had a hold on his men and all looked up to him for direction. From the Committee of Friends to the Unity party of Nigeria, Awo’s personality decided issues in the groups. His demise in 1987 created a vacuum which is yet to be filled till date.
Challenge of Awo’s death
Since the death of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, two leaders have mounted the saddle. Chief Adekunle Ajasin, the immediate successor was an old warrior and a tested officer, one of the eight who gathered at his home town, Owo, to announce the establishment of the AG in 1951. He naturally had earned the respect of all. But, at almost 80, there was little he could do to chart a new direction for the people. Besides, the whole of Yorubaland soon became a theatre of war as general Sani Abacha stormed the scene. Little was done in terms of restructuring the group for the future. Few people had time to thing about the shape of evolving politics in the country and what should be done in terms of appropriate response. The death of Chief Ajasin about a decade after presented a new challenge.
The front runners in the battle for succession were senator Abraham Adesanya, Chief Bola Ige and Chief Ayo Adebanjo. Senator Adesanya who, though a Senator in the Second republic, was not seen as sufficiently high in the party hierarchy in the First and the Second republic emerged the new leader of Afenifere, the successor in title to the Egbe Omo Oduduwa of old. He had to work to earn the respect of others and apparently would have preferred to support a leader rather than occupy the drivers seat. Honest and dedicated to the cause of the Yoruba, it soon became obvious that he would find it difficult to handle the group. He could not lead a united house for long as the choice of a presidential candidate for the 1999 election soon drove a wedge between him and his then deputy, Chief Bola Ige.
In the past one year, Afenifere has faced a new challenge. The leader has been unable to give full leadership owing to ill health. Coming after a crushing defeat at the polls, it clearly needed firm leadership and clear thinking. The death of Chief Bola Ige, preceded as it was by schism within the group, did not help matters. Lieutenants of the late Attorney General of the Federation (and they were many) found a way to blame the defeat on poor strategies adopted by Afenifere and a proof of poor leadership.
Before the death of Chief Ige, it had been argued that the Ijebu mafia was in charge of the group. The front line leaders were essentially Ijebus. The inner core comprised Senator Adesanya, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, late Pa Solanke Onasanya and Sir Olanihun Ajayi, all Ijebus. The only one from outside the enclave was Chief Ige who had become estranged since 1999. This might have influenced the choice of Chief Reuben Fasoranti, an unlikely choice, as Acting Leader in the absence of Senator Adesanya.
The way out
Poor tactics and strategies and attendant confusion have marked the current attempt to chart a path for the Yoruba within the Nigerian comity of nations. In place of visionaries like Awolowo who carefully plotted the way forward and painstakingly worked on position papers, many of the current crop of leaders appear to be too engrossed with personal interests to make any difference. It will take the quick emergence of one faction as the Afenifere, for the Yoruba to even stand any chance in the struggle ahead. The Igbo now appear united in their resolve to gain some attention and the North has a chance to work together in view of the 2007 presidential bid. As the June 12 battle cry appears to have lost its bite, what could keep the Yoruba together and relevant in the scheme of things in the drive towards 2007. Time, again, will tell the full story.
