Spokesperson of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC Presidential Campaign Council, Festus Keyamo, says the leader of Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, Ayo Adebanjo is using the group to advance personal interest.
This is as he berated the elder stateman over his support for the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, for the 2023 elections.
Keyamo, while speaking to newsmen on Monday, accused Adebanjo of promoting his agenda as the position of the pan-Yoruba group.
He said, “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,” he added.
The Minister of State for Labour and Employment of Nigeria maintained that he stood by an earlier statement released by the council’s Director of Media and Publicity, Bayo Onanuga on the position of the Afenifere.
Onanuga had, in an earlier statement, described Adebanjo’s endorsement of Obi as a personal decision.
Keyamo 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 spokesperson of the APC campaign council, however, said Adebanjo is free to support anyone he likes in furtherance of his democratic right, adding that the elder statesman does not speak for the Yorubas.
Recall that Adebanjo had earlier justified Afenifere’s decision to support Obi for the 2023 elections. He made the Afenifere’s position known at a press conference in Lagos.
Afenifere insisted that 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.
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