Fasoranti was misled by yourba memebers to endorse Tinubu – Adebanjo
Chief Ayo Adebanjo, leader of Afenifere has said that the group who visited Fasoranti for the endorsement of the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, were Yoruba members of the ruling party.
He addded emphatically that the socio-political organisation has already taken a position on who to support in the 2023 presidential election.
Yesterday, Speaking on Arise TV, the Afenifere leader said, “The party has spoken. We don’t want to get into unnecessary controversy by those who have left or distanced themselves.
“The group that went to Fasoranti for the alleged endorsement are Yoruba members of APC, Bisi Akande, Gbenga Daniel and the rest of them. I am not interested in that, anybody can go and visit anybody. It is not every Yoruba man that is Afenifere but I am not speaking for the Yoruba, I am speaking for Afenifere,” he said.
While stressing that Fasoranti is no longer the leader of the group, he said, “His letter resigning as the leader of Afenifere and asking me to continue as the leader of the group is in the public domain. As a matter of fact, I don’t want to be brought into any controversy because I already know the purpose of the people who brought him (Tinubu) there. They warned me before that they want to cause confusion in Afenifere and I don’t want to lend my name to that fact.
“Fasoranti told me that they wanted to come and because he has informed me that they wanted to come, I don’t want to say anything. The conspiracy that they want to split Afenifere has been there for a while now,” he stated.
Adebanjo added, “He said that they were coming for him to bless him (Tinubu) and I told him to tell them that Afenifere has taken a stand. I told him not to allow his name to get involved in the mess, and I held my peace. When they said that he has done this and that, well I don’t want to get involved in that now, because that will be a diversion and that is the purpose of those who went there to commit a leader who has resigned over two years ago.
“I don’t want to go into that so that it won’t become personal and I don’t want to get involved in anything which is not on issue. I don’t want to get involved in anything which is not related to the election of Obi and his support must be based on issues. Any question on that is not important to me.”
When asked if he had spoken with Fasoranti after the Akure meeting, he said, “No, I didn’t have to because he told me that they were coming and I advised him, but he has not called me again. There is no need because he is an elderly person and he knows all the things that Tinubu has been doing all along.
(Independence)
