 Division in Afenifeire as members disagree over candidates to support in 2023 and the Southeast Governors raise alarm over insecurity in the region. This is Post-Politics. I am Mary Anacol. Leader of Pan-Yoruba Social Political Group, Afenifeire Chief Ayo Adebanjo has explained the reason behind the absence of the endorsement at the endorsement ceremony of the presidential candidates of the ruling or progressive Congress, Ayo Adebanjo in an interview with Newsmen on Sunday said he was not expected to attend the meeting where Tinibu was endorsed as his support for Pitalbi was already known. Recall that the leader of the Pan-Yoruba Social Political Group, Afenifeire Pa-Ruben-Fa-Sauron-Ti and several other West-South-West leaders had endorsed Tinibu on Sunday at Pa-Sauron-Ti's residence in Akure, the understate capital. Well, joining us to break this down is Biodun Shoumi, he's a political analyst and a veteran journalist, and also joining us is Uppunabot Inko Tyria, a civil rights advocate. Thank you so much, gentlemen. Glad to have you join us. It is my pleasure. Thank you for having me. Good evening, Mary An. Good evening. And good evening. And good evening. Great. I'll start with you, Mr. Shoumi, because you obviously are from the Southwest, so you'd be able to give us some insight from a Yoruba perspective. Now we've seen earlier on where Pa-Ruben-Fa-Ruben-Fa-Ruben-Fa-Sauron-Ti had said that Afenifeire stands by Pitalbi of cost. That's one way or the other, ruffled the feathers of many. And now we're seeing Fasheron-Ti also endorsing his own candidate. Let me start with the basic, you know, for this conversation. How does Afenifeire as a pan-Yoruba group affect the votes of the people in the Southwest or anybody whatsoever who is a Yoruba person? How does what? How does the position of an Afenifeire leader or Afenifeire as a group affect the votes of the average Yoruba person or who they pick as a candidate? Afenifeire occupies a very important post in the sociocultural world of the Yoruba. It mingles in politics at different point in time in relation to the interests of the Yoruba ethnic nationality. And quite often has made interjections in national affairs. But with the view to promote and protect Yoruba's interests. And that is the Afenifeire known to the Yoruba. In relation to the current situation, we have a situation where the national chairman after the unfortunate, you know, previous death, you know, killing mother of his daughter decided to take a break because you do not retire from Afenifeire. Leader she don't retire is like post for life. That's how it has always been. And therefore he decided to step aside and appointed an acting leader in Chief Ayio Adebanjo. Since 2021, Chief Ayio Adebanjo has taken hold of the leadership of Afenifeire. But has had the call meeting to ratify decisions taken by him. That was already causing some problems internally. The future of the issue only brought the whole thing to the fore. If the bill disagrees is about the fact that Chief Ayio Adebanjo will take the decision and then announce it as Afenifeire position. We are consulting with other leaders of Afenifeire, including the leaders in each of the state chapter. So that is what they found abhorrent. Now when the OBI incident came, many people were alarmed that it's time Chief Ayio Adebanjo is called to order. Otherwise Chief Ayio Adebanjo would do more in the name of Afenifeire without the support of the entire leadership. So Chinumbu came in. That was a very capable opportunity to make the statement. OBI and Chinumbu both are caught in the internal disagreement of Afenifeire. The current crisis is not about Chinumbu or Pithaobi. It's a battle between a handful who are in the position of leadership and they're just about four of them and the entire leadership member of Afenifeire. That's exactly what happened. What has played out now is that the whole thing has come to the fore. It's now in the open. First of all, Chief Ayio Adebanjo was asked to take over the leadership. But he should resume his duty. After all, Chief Ayio Adebanjo is in an action capacity. He was singularly appointed by Papa Faso Rotti and his appointment has not been ratified. And because it has not been ratified, it is not a sub-county appointment. And therefore, Chief Papa Faso Rotti decided to step back in and take over the leadership. That is exactly what is going on. Nothing to do with Chinumbu, nothing to do with Pithaobi. It's an internal crisis which everybody is trying to cover up. Decision-making crisis which everybody is trying to cover up. Unfortunately, the politicians are now the costable. They are now the ones caught in the middle. Okay. Let me move away from you. I'll come back to you because you're giving us some of the nitty-gritty. To you, Apunabwa, you are obviously an onlooker. You're looking from the outside in. But then from a political perspective, how do two men who have one vote each, might I say, wield so much power, so much so that it sounds like they can sway the votes of certain people who totally subscribe to the Afhenyferi Pan-Yoruba group. What's the, for the want of a better word, what's the ideology behind this in the first instance? Yes. So I'm asking, how can two men who only have one vote each be able to wield so much power that it seems like they can sway the whole, you know, southwest, those especially who subscribe to Afhenyferi, to vote for people who they think would be the best choice for an election? How does that work? Well, the Yoruba group, and it is, it is the lead that they respect the Yoruba men and mentors of the Afhenyferi, those who are the drivers, the way to enslave, they have the clout and they have the cool rush. And so as a group, the Afhenyferi, it is their belief and conviction that they can influence the Yoruba tribe, so to speak. But I wish to take this and to descend from what my, my brother said. Can you hear me open about, I think. Okay, we lost your color a little bit. Yes, I can hear you now. Okay. You can't have two captains on the ship. And I clear, sorry, I'm not clear. Yes. I think I have to be as fast as I can because of the network. You can't have two captains on the ship. That's number one. I don't understand today is the leader of Afhenyferi, even though he has nothing capacity or not, he's the leader of Afhenyferi. And his predecessor cannot be the leader to that to speak. He can only be the rest. Okay. We're having connection issues with Yoruba. So I'm going to go back to Beaudu show me. Mr. Show me, again, I just want to ask because I don't think you really necessarily answered the question that I asked. So I'm going to re ask that question. The positions of these two gentlemen and all of the people that they have decided to support, does it necessarily reflect the position of the average Yoruba person? I asked this question earlier. Again, and is every Yoruba person subscribed to the Afhenyferi pan Yoruba group? Yes. The two leaders of Afhenyferi, that is the Afhenyferi leader and the acting leader position as reflected in all the position in the statuettes. And it captures it accurately. Where you have a handful led by the acting leader, you know, back in the town, you have the majority, the vast majority, you know, back in Tinumbu that captured exactly, that's the kind of position they did with the the mood of the statuettes, the mood of the Yoruba people. Majority and most Yoruba people at this point in time for different reasons, or rather have Tinumbu than colonized. That is the truth of the matter. And there are still some Yoruba people who, no matter what you say, will never back Tinumbu. That is also a fact. But they are in a minority. And that is what the group, Shifa Yadiba, your themes to be talking about currently. So you're telling me that every Yoruba person in the South East or Southwest, I beg your pardon, especially in your words, at least 80% majority of them seem to be backing the APC aspirants. What's your yardstick for measuring that? And did you take a poll or a census of sorts? Look, I have gone round the South West, Ogun or your AKT, Ogun. I have also checked the INEC in Greece. And we have, we have, you have got, there's no governorship candidate in Ogun. In many of the states in South West, the houses of attendees are not being contested. They're not being contested for. I also have something contested for. In fact, in Ligoth, is a friend of mine, Sumbo Nikiri, who is in Bekira under PDT, you know, contesting for Ligoth Central, who has just left PDT now, trying to pick up Ligoth Central ticket from Cibopa. So it's quite obvious you don't need to go too far, you know, to work this thing out. And I have spoken to youth. I then realized that, look, the danger, there's a danger that we take the urban youth as representative of the youth general. That is not correct. If you look at, for instance, I decided to attend a rally, even though I was a big tantrum, that's the end, the Cheyit-Numbuz rally in Ligoth. I could see the youth. They are not the same youth on social media. So if we are not careful, we'll get misplaced. But again, those youths that you also are making reference to do not necessarily represent all of the young people in the Southwest. So again, maybe you are mistaken. These are all speculations. Because you have not necessarily told me that you took a poll of the youths in the urban and rural areas. And you got an answer of sorts saying that we all will vote for Tunibor. We all support him or 80% of us support him. So as far as I'm concerned, this is banter between you and I, right? No, no, no. Look at it this way. In the Yoruba world, when you leave Ligoth, to some extent, it's true of Ligoth. When you leave Ligoth, there's the way votes are delivered. The traditional institutions are there. People whisper down the line, after the village air, which we call ballet, this is where we are going. And that is where the people go. Okay. That is a fact. But in Ligoth, Ligoth is more contested in Ligoth. Okay. In a state like Oshun, it's about the principal godfathers. That's how votes move in Oshun. So the whole of their peculiarities. But if you analyze them, you will see the trends. Okay. You'll see the trends. But in Ligoth, I agree, there's a huge swell of the youth, which you can't ignore. You know, who are against Inungu, they are not so much vertical, but they are for big. Okay. That's a fact. That can be the night. I think we have Oppenaboa back. Oppenaboa, let's again talk about the politics and all the things that have happened while this somewhat, some sorts of anointing, you know, by a fashion on tea happened. Don't forget that in the news. Yes, the deputy. Yes, I can hear you. The deputy governor. Can you hear me now? Okay. Well, I'll try. Now the deputy governor of your state was actually represented at that event. And he did say that his governor, his principal's position is right behind the position of the Yoruba people. What does that translate to politically, especially for someone who's in the opposition, the PDP? Maria, let me quickly say this. First, I don't think it is proper to say that somebody that is in the PDP is trying to get a ticket in the ATC. I mean, we all know that it's too late. We can't do that right now. So we all know the inclination of my brother. But the truth about it is that first of all, like I said, you can't talk to leaders of a group. You can't talk to captains on a ship. It's not possible. Right now, De Banda is a leader. And second, it is also important to note that his predecessor said he also prayed for a ticket and he will be there. He's going to pray for me. If he does, it is, it doesn't sound somehow to anoint a candidate. Yes. Now, using that, as De Banda yesterday, when he said you have this kissing in a clinic, right? As a result of certain persons who are held bent on trying to, uh, uh, I would like to plant, plant division, division because of his leaders. Nevertheless, we all have the issue of Washington state where you, uh, which is supposed to be the APC candidates, uh, state where he lost. He lost, you know, sir. You have a Filipino government there. So I don't necessarily think what I think is that the members of the, uh, reasonable group do this whole business out of proportion. Because the mind himself has said, look, I also prayed for a blessed attitude. If Tinnabu come, I will be come to what I was also blessed to be. It has nothing to do with anointing. That was not. Okay. Open up if you can hear me. Open up if you can hear me. I'm, I'm mostly interested in Governor McIndy's deputy and his message, uh, to the, uh, he did say that his governor supports the choice of the Yoruba people. Now this, this is a governor who belongs to the PDP, who also is on the same boat with a governor VK who has been at loggerheads with the presidential candidates of his party. What's your take? Those are moves in the party. I'm not a member of PDP, you know, very, very, I told them not to never bring the political party. Um, I've only called to program on teams. I'm not a member of, and I, I just, I decided that so that I could speak freely, but people don't catch my boat. Even in Riverside, I campaigned for a candidate at a national level. Open up. I think again, we have lost that connection. But if you can hear me, can you hear me open up? Unfortunately, I think that connection has gone off. But finally, final questions to you, um, Mr. Show me, uh, with the, with the campaigns really kicking off proper and we're seeing more and more, you know, push and shove from all across, you know, the divides of the political parties. Um, where do we see this going, especially for a fenneferi whose, which is a house that's somewhat divided against itself? Why should anybody, uh, actually want to throw their weight behind the support of whoever, whether it be Pai or Debanjo, or, uh, fashion around tea? Yes, this is not the first time, um, this is awesome. Uh, it has always been in a history. And chief, uh, Debanjo has always been taking the position which is taken quite often against the majority. That has always been the case. You need to go back to, to the 50s, uh, the base of the action book and understand, uh, chief Pai or Debanjo. So it's not something strange in the Southwest. It's part of the liberality, uh, the liberal tradition and part of the plurality of ideas in Southwest. Ideas who compete at the end of the day, the people who decide where they're going. But from all indications, I think, um, the table has been turned, you know, uh, towards, um, in favor of the current, that's my reading currently. But that's what's said. That does not erase the fact that there are a huge, there are many people that are also concerned about seeing those candidacy who believes that OB is a better choice. That's the truth. That's the fact. But they're not in the majority. And the way the politics is played in this part of the world. As much as I want to believe you, I, I mean, again, like I said, this is your analysis, but how many, how many Nigerians have you met from the Southwest that would total the number of people in the Southwest or would even reflect a fraction of those people you keep mentioning as the majority? Every single person does have a vote and they will decide who, where the votes will be cast at the end of the day. But I don't think that you can preempt that by a handful of people you see on the streets campaigning. Look, you don't need to go far to work that out. AKP, PPP is non-existent, LLVM, Labor Party is non-existent. They've had elections, but she'll say I was at a rally when we became to address the people in Oshubu. There were over 150,000 people. The candidate of the party was last year or so, a former deputy speaker out of it. And here, the only score is 2,700, but it's his vote. One 50,000 people attended. In on-vote, Labor Party is virtually almost done everything. And, and then again, so I want to turn that table because we have to go, Mr. Show, show me, but I want to use that, that, that elastic that you just put out, that example. If you had 150,000 people show up for a press, a particular candidate, and still did not vote him, what's the assurance that those people who showed up for your candidate would vote for him? Yes, they voted for, for the traditional parties in that space, which is LIT and APC. Because Oshubu, like I mentioned earlier, depends on Godfather. Go and check any time there's a change of government, watch the movement of the Godfather. All right. You and I can keep going on this, but you and I can keep going back and forth on this issue. But then, of course, I'm guessing time will tell, because we cannot obviously call, you know, who leads in this race or not. But I want to say a very, very big thank you. Be able to show me as a political analyst and an investor and journalist, Upunabha Inko Tara is a civil rights advocate. Unfortunately, his connection has been very poor. But Upunabha, we hope to have you back sometime soon to have another conversation. Thank you so much, gentlemen, for being here. My pleasure. All right. Well, we'll take a quick break. And when we come back, we'll be talking about insecurity, not just in Eboni, but across the southeast and what the governors are doing about it today with us.