Leader of the Yoruba Socio-political group, Afenifere, Chief Reuben Fasoranti, in this interview with SUNDAY ABORISADE, speaks about merger of political parties among other issues
What is your opinion on the state of politics in the country?
Politicians are forming alliances but they are doing this out of sheer desperation because they feel that the Peoples Democratic Party is becoming intimidating in all ramifications. They are afraid that the trend could force Nigeria to become a one-party state with the PDP dominating the scene. This is why people are looking for alliances. I hope it will work but such strategy hardly works because people have different reasons, different opinions for forming a political party, forgetting certain fundamentals.
Why do you think that the alliance may not work?
For instance, the thinking of those who formed the Action Congress of Nigeria, the Congress for Progressive Change, and the All Nigerian Grand Alliance was that they have common objectives or principles. They are now meeting saying they need to tackle a common enemy but I want them to know that it will not be too easy. What brought those individuals together to form the individual party together initially? I do not think they will be able to achieve such unity to wage a war against a common enemy like the PDP.
So what is the way out?
Well, we are Afenifere, we are progressives, we hope an approval will soon be given to our party which has been in existence. We hope people of like minds will also rise up and join us. We have worked very well at an advanced stage and we are expecting approval anytime. We are not taken in by this sudden coming together of political parties to fight a common enemy. We have our own principles and those principles will guide us in our future operations. I don’t know how people who have different views and who have not been working together before will now be forming an alliance, it won’t last.
What is the name of the party that Afenifere is seeking the Independent National Electoral Commission’s approval?
I won’t disclose the name now. The name will be announced later but we worked well and we have achieved a lot. It is a question of a few weeks, INEC will make it public.
Is there any effort to reconcile the Afenifere Renewal Group to the main Afenifere for?
There are positive signs, positive signals that the Afenifere Renewal Group will work with us. Our differences have been ironed out and there is a strong indication that we will soon come under a single umbrella.
As the voice of the Yoruba, will you say that the tribe is being marginalised in the scheme of things in the country?
Very, very well, the Yoruba are being marginalised in this country. We have made a clearly mapped out representation to President Goodluck Jonathan and we clearly stated our grievances to him. Recently, some of our people cried out and this was published in the media. No Yoruba man or woman makes the first top nine positions in this country. Some details which were forwarded to the President were also published in the media. The President recently reacted to it when he promised to do something about it. We hope the presidency will not be insensitive to our legitimate demand as a people because the Yoruba greatly assisted him to become the President and he knows that. We met him in spite of our party differences, we promised to vote for him because we felt he was the best candidate for the job at that time. Whether we are justified or not, it is for the President to prove himself.
Afenifere tested its political strength in the South-West recently with the Ondo governorship election by supporting Governor Olusegun Mimiko of the Labour Party, what informed this decision?
We threw our weight behind Mimiko because he was one of us before. He served in the administration of the Late Adebayo Adefarati as a member of the Afenifere but because he was not given the ticket at that time, he stepped aside and he didn’t complete the term with Adefarati. We saw that his programmes as the governor are a replica of Afenifere. His free health programme for instance, the mother and child hospital, youth employment, welfare of the people and free education, among others were not different from that of Afenifereand that was why we supported him. We came out openly to support him and this of course, boosted his ego and his image and that is why he won massively. He came first and others came distance second and third. We are very happy and we did not regret our action at all. It is an indication that Afenifere remains the authentic voice of the Yoruba, our people recognise us and respect our action on issues that have direct impact on them. We are still justified. People are now coming together to join our proposed party and before the end of the year, our rank and file will swell. The party is basically for the progressives across the six geo-political zones of the country.
Going by the crisis in some part of the North, do you think it is right for President Jonathan to contest the 2015 presidential election?
My advice is that President Jonathan should listen to the advice of the leaders of his political party because they are saying something fundamental. On the Boko Haram issue, there is disgruntlement. Some of the people causing this trouble are aggrieved. They are also being used by some people. The President should look inward and see what is actually happening up there in the North. The Boko Haram crisis is currently confined to Borno and Kano and both states have porous borders with other countries in the Sahara. So, the government has to tighten security at those borders. It should step up its anti-terrorism machinery. It could seek the assistance of foreign countries like Israel which is very good in internal security and the USA. They will be able to assist. The security situation in the North at the moment is very terrible. Something has to be done. Government should involve the leaders there in its efforts at finding a solution to it. I am even worried about the silence of the leaders from those crisis-ridden areas. They have not spoken against the activities of these terrorists. I have been saying this for quite some time now, when the United Nations office was bombed in Abuja, they should have come out and denounced it. They have bombed places of worships and schools and this is getting out of hand, yet the leaders there kept quiet.
What could have caused the disgruntlement?
They could be aggrieved over the poverty in their land. Then of course, some politicians are using them by telling them that western education is bad despite the fact they were beneficiaries of the western education which they are now condemning. It is a contradiction.
If these people are aggrieved because they are not in power, will you still advise President Jonathan to contest the 2015 poll?
If that is his desire, he has the constitutional and fundamental rights to do so. But I doubt whether he will be able to achieve the ambition in the face of the heightened tension in the land, especially in the core North. The security situation generally in Nigeria is very loose. At times, we don’t even know what is going to happen; we don’t know where they are going to strike next. Luckily they have not come to the South. We hope they won’t come because that will definitely be the end of Nigeria.
Is Afenifere going to consider forming an alliance with other parties outside Yorubaland to make its proposed party popular?
When we get INEC’s approval and look at the whole situation, we still have a few friends we are talking to, and they will come out. We are making contacts with people of like minds. When the situation in the country is not good enough, people of like minds will come together and think of what to do.
Punch Nigeria
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