Afenifere leader, Pa Adebanjo, endorses Peter Obi: Tinubu says he does not speak for Afenifere

Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, blasted Pa Ayo Adebanjo, the leader of Afenifere, for saying that the pan-Yoruba socio-cultural group has endorsed Peter Obi, the nominee of the Labour Party, as its candidate in the upcoming election.

Remember that Jare Ajayi, the National Publicity Secretary of Afenifere, claimed in a statement on July 23 that the All Progressives Congress's (APC) choice for president, Ahmed Tinubu, "will only offer continuity to Buhari's incompetence." We support Peter Obi since we are familiar with him well.

Peter Obi had also claimed in a tweet from August 23 that he had met with the group's leadership.

He said, “Presently visiting PA Ayo Adebanjo and members of the South and Middle Belt Leadership Forum. The National leaders of the Labour Party and other stakeholders are here too,”

The APC Presidential Campaign Council's director of media and publicity, Bayo Onanuga, released a statement on Saturday in which Tinubu claimed that Pa Adebanjo had transformed Afenifere into his own property.

Adebanjo is the head of the "Ohanifere Venture," according to the former governor of Lagos, who insisted that a person cannot associate themselves with the sociocultural and sociopolitical organisation.

The statement reads partly, “Papa Ayo Adebanjo does not speak for Afenifere. He is free as an individual to support anyone he likes, in furtherance of his democratic right.

“We know for a fact that Baba has turned Afenifere into his personal estate as acting leader. We are also certain that there was nowhere Afenifere, as we know it, met and took a decision to adopt Peter Obi as a candidate for the 2023 presidential election.

“We respect the age of Baba Adebanjo, but he cannot turn Afenifere into his personal franchise for any political alliance”.

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