Afenifere’s FAUX PAS

South West is considered the most politically sophisticated region in the country. It is for good reason. Every individual has the right to belong to a political party of his or her choice. This right comes with the privilege of having and expressing political opinion and freedom of political association.

Here ideology plays a vital role in deciding which political group one belongs to – whether one is a progressive or conservative, left or right of the political spectrum. The above characterised the political evolution of the defunct Western Region.

And that was the reason why the Action Group (AG) and later the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), both led by Chief Obafemi Awolowo, gained prominence in the region. All through to the termination of the Second Republic, the region was always controlled by the progressives, except for the brief and aberrational interludes of the Ladoke Akintola, the post 1983 farcical short reign of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) and the 2003-2010 disastrous Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stranglehold on the region.

With the advent of democracy in 1999, ideology seemed to have been jettisoned in the country. This dearth of ideology is no doubt fast affecting every group or organisation with a tint of politics: Afenifere, Ohanaeze Ndigbo and Arewà Consultative Forum. Last week, Afenifere, the Yoruba socio-political organisation, took a somewhat bizarre political decision.

In an emergency meeting it called, the pan-Yoruba organisation issued a communiqué to the effect that it took a decision to suspend the governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the September 22nd Osun State Governorship Election, Senator Iyiola Omisore.

Omisore's offence, according to Afenifere, was that he formed an alliance with the All Progressives Congress (APC) during the re-run election, which paved the way for the APC to win the Osun Governorship Election.

The punishment for this alignment with the progressive APC in the re-run thus earned Omisore a one-year suspension from the organisation's all activities, political or social!

What a decision! What a punishment! But these two questions should not be the only ones which should agitate the mind of every true Yoruba son and daughter.

The decision by Afenifere ought to be probed deeply to find out why such stand should be taken in the first place and what such decision portends for the Yoruba nation.

This brings to mind a flurry of questions: What did Omisore do in the first place? Next is, what did he do wrong? Is Afenifere saying that every Yoruba must belong to the organisation's political party or political party it leans towards? Are Afenifere leaders saying we don't have freedom to choose and belong to any political party of our choice? These and more should agitate the minds of Yoruba sons and daughters. Because this was what earned Senator Omisore the harsh punishment from Afenifere.

Both APC and PDP approached Omisore before the rerun because of his popularity and central position. They negotiated with him because it was his area of influence where two polling units in the rerun election were located. He thus exercised his political freedom to choose which party to align with. That was Omisore’s crime.

We should make no pretence about this. Omisore was hammered by Afenifere for supporting APC in the rerun election of September 27. This is rather baffling. The electoral contest pitted the well-educated APC’s Gboyega Oyetola with PDP’s Ademola Adeleke.

Oyetola has two degrees from the University of Lagos. He is a successful financial magnate and solid member and financier of the AD all through its metamorphosis to APC. He also had tucked under his belt an unblemished eight years public service as the Chief of Staff to Osun State Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola.

Adeleke on the other hand has issues with his secondary school education. It took WAEC’s intervention in the last minute, which claimed that he indeed sat for a single subject in 1981. Even as we speak, he is being prosecuted for examination malpractices in an Abuja court, an offence, the police alleged, he committed just last year.

Evaluating the two candidates amounts to comparing an apple with an orange. There is really no basis for comparing them. It reflects the extent to which we have sunk as a nation, that a political party would field Adeleke as a candidate, in the first instance.

But that Afenifere would put its weight behind such a candidate sealed the moral degeneracy in Yorubaland.

With this cynical decision, Afenifere just told us that it prefers Adeleke to occupy that exalted governorship position! The same position occupied by Chief Obafemi Awolowo. What a political irony! The same position occupied by Chief Ajibola Ige, Chief Bisi Akande, Chief Olabisi Onabanjo, Alhaji Lateef Jakande, Professor Ambrose Alli, Chief Adekunle Ajasin and Chief Adefarati.

One is worried that the position occupied by these eminent personalities could be offered to anybody with no intellectual and educational pedigree.