Step Down Now, We Want Peace–Afenifere youths tells Adebanjo

In the interest of maintaining peace, the youth wing of the Yoruba sociopolitical organization Afenifere has requested that Ayo Adebanjo "step down" as the group's acting leader right away.

The call for Mr. Adebanjo's resignation as the leader was made by the youths on Tuesday at a protest held in Akure, the capital city of Ondo, under the auspices of the Yoruba Afenifere Youth Organization of Nigeria (YAYON).

To cast a "Vote of No Confidence" on Mr. Adebanjo, the protesters surrounded the Akure home of Reuben Fasoranti, the group's top leader.

The young people, some of whom were elderly women, brandished placards with various messages and accused Mr. Adebanjo of undermining the interests of the Yoruba people.

The inscription read; “Pa Fasoranti: Pls Revoke The Mandate you gave Pa Adebanjo Now”; “Our vote of no confidence remains stands”; “Afenifere must be restructured now”; “Pa Fasoranti please rescue Afenifere”; “Ayo Adebanjo must go”; “Pa Ayo Adebanjo: Time to step aside from Afenifere.”

Speaking on behalf of the protesters, Eric Oluwole, the national youth leader of the organization, stated that the youths would only recognize Mr. Fasoranti as the leader of Afenifere.

“We want peace and we want Baba (Fasoranti) to take over because we still recognise him as the leader of Afenifere. So, he has to talk to him (Adebanjo). He’s the one who appointed him as acting leader.

“We can only depend on Baba Fasoranti as the national leader to immediately call Ayo Adebanjo to order and to step down immediately”, he said.

He claimed that since Mr. Adebanjo assumed control of the top Yoruba nation in acting capacity, the group has continued to disintegrate and that the youths must step in.

Mr. Oluwole stated that it would be in Mr. Adebanjo's best interest to stop presenting himself as the leader of Afenifere, while still maintaining that 96-year-old Mr. Fasoranti remained the leader of the Yoruba group.

“Now, the whole drama has changed and the youths are involved. We want to make sure that we are part of the restructuring of Afenifere.

“And we cannot continue like this anymore. So, the only person we recognise in this Yoruba nation is Pa Reuben Fasoranti as the national leader of Afenifere and he remains the leader.

“We, hereby call upon Pa Ayo Adebanjo to step down immediately and he should stop parading himself as the national leader of Afenifere. We recall that Baba wrote him a letter then to act on his behalf,” he added.

The female leader of Afenifere, Bukola Olusoto, also spoke and announced that the group had decided to "vote of no confidence" in Mr. Adebajo.

Young people and women in Afenifere have decided that the socio-political group should be brought back to sanity, according to Mrs. Olusoto.

“We are here to pass a vote of no confidence on Mr Ayo Adebanjo. We are in support of Pa Fasoranti. And we are using one voice that we no longer have confidence in him. We don’t recognise him anymore. We only recognise Baba and we stand by him,” she also said.

She asserts that Mr. Adebanjo is not "the almighty God of the Yoruba nation or the universe," but we think we can communicate with him to bring about peace.

“So, what we need is sanity for Afenifere. We believe in Baba’s leadership. If he’s unable to listen then we would take it from there. We do not threaten him but we are only saying he should step down in the interest of Afenifere,” she also said.

Ogunkalu Sunday, the chief security officer to the Afenifere leader, spoke to the crowd on behalf of Fasoranti and pleaded for harmony among the youths.

“Baba (Fasoranti) said he is aware of all you are asking for and he said you should not fight but allow peace to reign,” he said.