Politics

Afenifere Justifies Obi’s Endorsement, Tinubu’s Team Fumes

Published

3 years ago

September 27, 2022

The Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, on Monday justified its decision to back the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, for the 2023 elections.

The group’s leader, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, made its position known at a press conference in Lagos.

Justifying the decision, Adebanjo said the group would not compromise the principle of justice, equity and inclusiveness because the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, is a Yoruba man.

He said, “The South-West has produced a President and currently sits as Vice President; the South-South has spent a total of six years in the Presidency, but the Igbo people of the South-East have never tasted presidency in Nigeria, and now that the power is due back in the South, equity demands that it be ceded to the Igbo.

“We cannot continue to demand that the Igbo people remain in Nigeria while we, at the same time, continue to brutally marginalise and exclude them from the power dynamics.

“Peter Obi is the person of Igbo extraction that Afenifere has decided to support and back; he is the man we trust to restructure the country back to federalism on the assumption of office.

“We will not compromise this principle of justice, equity and inclusiveness because one of our own, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, is a frontline candidate. It is on this same principle we condemn the Peoples Democratic Party for sponsoring Atiku Abubakar, a Northern Fulani Muslim to succeed General Muhammadu Buhari another Fulani Muslim.”

However, in his reaction, the APC spokesperson, Presidential Campaign Council, Festus Keyamo, accused Adebanjo of promoting his agenda as the position of the pan-Yoruba group.

Keyamo told The PUNCH on Monday that he stood by an earlier statement released by the council’s Director of Media and Publicity, Bayo Onanuga.

He said, “We stand by the statement issued yesterday (Sunday) by our campaign council media director. Afenifere is not the mouthpiece of the Yoruba. The release comprehensively addressed the matter.

“The issue is that the Afenifere in question is just Pa Adebanjo trying to project his personal bias against Asiwaju. He is not pursuing any pan-Yoruba act of patriotism as claimed. No, he is not.

“Besides, his view is not the position of the entire Afenifere. He is just a factional member of the group. We are aware that there was no time Afenifere met to take such a decision.”

Onanuga had, in an earlier statement, described Adebanjo’s endorsement of Obi as a personal decision.

While admitting that he is free to support anyone he likes in furtherance of his democratic right, the media director stated that the elder statesman does not speak for the Yorubas.
PUNCH

Related Topics:#Tinubu Adebanjo Afenifere Keyamo Onanuga

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Politics

Trump’s Threat: You’re Responsible For Nigeria’s Rising Insecurity – ADC Slams Tinubu

Published

4 hours ago

November 3, 2025

Editor

The African Democratic Congress, ADC, has blasted President Bola Tinubu, blaming him for the escalating insecurity in Nigeria and the tagging of Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern by US President Donald Trump.

In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, on Monday, the ADC said the action by Trump again highlights the urgency and scale of Nigeria’s security collapse.

The party said that the US President’s designation underlines the global expectation that governments must protect the lives of citizens living within their borders.

“We are guided by the painful reality that what is really at stake on this issue are the thousands of human lives that have been lost to insecurity in Nigeria, irrespective of their tribe, religion, or region.

“The statement by President Trump reminds us of the greater global concern about the sanctity of human life, and the cardinal responsibility of national governments to protect the lives of people who live within their borders.

“The characterisation of Nigeria as religiously intolerant does not reflect our national reality, nor does it take into consideration the consistent and sincere efforts of the government to safeguard freedom of religion and beliefs for all Nigerians,” he stated.

Beyond the security failures, the ADC decried Nigeria’s weakened international standing, linking it to what it called the administration’s diplomatic negligence.

It questioned the continued absence of ambassadors in key countries more than two years into the government’s term, asking: “How can a government that has been boasting of unprecedented revenue success continue to give lack of funds as an excuse for not appointing ambassadors?”

“Under President Tinubu, Nigeria has declined both as a continental and a regional leader.”

Politics

How Obama Plotted My 2015 Election Defeat – Jonathan

Published

5 hours ago

November 3, 2025

Editor

Former President Goodluck Jonathan, has alleged that ex-US President, Barack Obama, plotted his defeat in 2015.

Jonathan made this allegation in his new book, ‘My Transition Hours’ due to launch on Tuesday.

He said Obama displayed an unusual level of bias during the 2015 elections, describing him as overbearing and ‘condescending’ in his message to Nigerians ahead of the 2015 general election.

According to Jonathan, “On March 23, 2015, President Obama himself took the unusual step of releasing a video message directly to Nigerians all but telling them how to vote.”

Giving the details in the book, Jonathan said, “In that video, Obama urged Nigerians to open the ‘next chapter’ by their votes.

“Those who understood subliminal language deciphered that he was prodding the electorate to vote for the opposition to form a new government.”

According to Premium Times, which obtained a copy of the book hours before its unveiling in Abuja on Tuesday, Jonathan had kept the book secret in order to avoid excerpts of it being published ahead of its formal launch.

Recall that Jonathan lost the 2015 elections to the late President Muhammadu Buhari, marking the first time an incumbent president would lose reelection.

He assumed office in 2010 following the death of President Umaru Yar’Adua, getting his own mandate of four years at the 2011 presidential election.

“The message was so condescending, it was as if Nigerians did not know what to do and needed an Obama to direct them,” Jonathan said of the video message.

He lampooned Obama, who was American president from 2009 until 2017, for saying all Nigerians must be able to cast their votes without intimidation or fear, but was reluctant to allow the Nigerian security forces drive Boko Haram insurgents away from the Nigerian territories they had been occupying in order to free Nigerian citizens there ahead of elections.

Jonathan also took a harsh aim at former US Secretary of State, John Kerry, saying the diplomat was nonchalant in his attitude towards his government, despite all efforts to make him understand that the decision to postpone election was in the overall interest of Nigeria.

“How can the U.S. Secretary of State know what is more important for Nigeria than Nigeria’s own government? How could they have expected us to conduct elections when Boko Haram controlled part of the North East and were killing and maiming Nigerians?

“Not even the assurance of the sanctity of May 29, 2015 handover date could calm them down. In Nigeria, the Constitution is very clear: No President can extend his tenure by one day,” Jonathan said.

Politics

Protest Rocks PDP National Secretariat As Wike-led Faction Takes Over

Published

11 hours ago

November 3, 2025

Editor

A protest erupted on Monday at the national secretariat of the Peoples Democratic Party, Wadata Plaza in Abuja, as supporters of the factional acting National Chairman of the party, Mohammed Abdulrahman, stormed the premises.

The group, chanting solidarity songs, demanded that the National Working Committee, led by Umar Damagum, vacate the headquarters immediately.

Abdulrahman was named the acting national chairman of the party last week as the leadership crisis threatening the soul of the party worsened with the suspension of the party’s National Secretary, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, and the Legal Adviser, Kamaldeen Ajibade, for a period of one month.

In a dramatic twist, the faction loyal to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, had converged at a separate venue in Abuja and announced the suspension of the Damagum-led NWC.

The protesters, who accused the Damagum-led leadership of mismanaging party affairs, vowed to reclaim control of the secretariat for the Abdulrahman-led faction.

Security operatives have been deployed to the area to prevent a breakdown of law and order as both factions struggle for control of the party’s edifice.

However, the faction of the party’s NWC led by Abdulrahman has taken control of the party’s National Chairman’s office.

Speaking to journalists at the office, Abdulrahman promised to unite and reposition the party in preparation for the next general election.

He also assured members of his commitment to work diligently for the party’s progress.

“We are ready to work in the interest of our dear party,” he said.