AN interesting drama is playing out in Yoruba land with the Afenifere which used to legitimately pride itself as the leading socio-political organisation in the nation now planning to handle the funeral rites of Alliance for Democracy, one of the three major political parties in the country. At inception in 1998, if the truth must be told, it was Afenifere that gave the party the clout and verve to achieve national attention. The fact was further illustrated with the performance of the AD in that year’s local government election and the other elections held the following year. It was only in the South West, an area then considered the enclave of Afenifere, that AD had a good outing. Subsequently, the organisation got swollen headed and went to sleep. It took a repeat of the 1998/99 performance at the polls for granted in the build up to 2003. Leaders of the group also took the people for granted.
It did not matter to Afenifere to campaign rigorously on what the AD to which it was affiliated stood for. Rather, it encouraged its governors to go around with the same refrain that had worked in the past, that is the hackneyed phrase that AD stood on the same platform with the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo.
Meanwhile, the same party, in obedience to the dictates of Afenifere opted out of the presidential race, rather encouraging the people of the South West to vote the incumbent president who was flying the flag of the rival PDP in the presidential election. If Afenifere leaders were confused, the electorate was not confused. It became clear to voters in the South West that the Awo platform had been hijacked for selfish purposes. To Afenifere leaders, there was no contradiction between dubbing the PDP as a party that lacked character while at the same time campaigning for the party’s flagbearer, but to the people, it was the only signal they needed to get to understand that the era of ideological politicking was over and the South West leaders had collectively decided to jump ship.
The rest is now history. After the election in which the AD reaped disaster, one felt the leaders had another opportunity to redeem themselves as they chose to cry over spilt milk. Many commentators felt that they were tricked by President Obasanjo and his party and extended sympathy to the leaders, hoping that the bitter lessons had been learnt ant work for success at the polls in 2007 would commence immediately. The club of septuagenarians and octogenarians chose rather to disappoint the people by opting for avoidable, reckless and unwarranted recriminations. It is a fact that the only state that the AD won nation-wide was Lagos where the Afenifere High Command had refused to give the governor the needed backing. The reality after the election was that the only platform to relaunch a bid for relevance existed in Lagos State. All the leaders of Afenifere had to do to prepare ahead for 2007, especially in view of the ferocious assaults from the PDP, was to unite the factions in Lagos and use the structure in the state as a launch pad for revitalisation.
The leaders thought differently. They considered it better to “deal” with Tinubu, seal a deal with Akinfenwa and pretend that all is well. Playing the ostrich in this case is unlikely to help the cause of Afenifere, AD, Tinubu or even Akinfenwa. Certainly, it would be a mortal blow at Yoruba pride. Good a thing that it appears that an ailing Senator Abraham Adesanya who had handed over the affairs of the group to his lieutenants seems to have seen the danger in the horizon and has rejected the move to recognise the Akinfenwa faction. The meeting holding today under the chairmanship of the octogenarian leader might still point the way forward. That is if there is still enough patriotism to point out that the committee’s resolution is a MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) Pact. It remains to be seen if Senator Adesanya can stem the tide. Some have opined that he is a captive of a powerful caucus within the party. That caucus appears to be on a deadly mission or is incapable of correctly reading the political compass. Whichever, Afenifere must be saved from the grips of these men if the Yoruba race is too be saved from the embarrassment of being turned into football to be played around the political pitch by other national groups within the country. As the Bible would put it, he who has ears let him hear.
