By Olakunle Abimbola
“E ku’le, Bami,” Pa Ayo Adebanjo went down, the full-stretch ‘idobale’ as the Yoruba do it, speaking his native Ijebu dialect. He just arrived the heavens, celestial bliss, provocative peace and all.
“Ayo! Iwo reyen!” Awo enthused. “Welcome! How’s Nigeria? I hear Reuben (Fasoranti) just turned 99? Loyal fellow! Very reliable! I rejoice with him. Welcome!”
Awo then bawled. “Michael (Ajasin)! Triple A (Abraham Aderibigbe Adesanya)! Bola (Ige)! AMA (Adisa Meredith Akinloye)! All of you, come out! Ayo is here!”
They all did. Their collective “Welcome!” boomed and chimed like some heavenly symphony.
“Ayo, you see,” Awo explained, “all your Afenifere folks are here. Even AMA who coined ‘Afenifere’ during our sweet, early Action Group years, before he left us for the conservatives — or were they reactionaries? They’re all anxious for news on Afenifere. I hope all is well?”
“Bami, indeed all is well. Afenifere is strong. Afenifere is united,” Adebanjo enthused.
“That’s good! Very good! But what’s this we hear about you, shortly before you left, being named ‘National Leader’ when the ‘Leader’ — Reuben — is still there?”
“Ngbo Bola,” Awo turned to Ige before Adebanjo could respond. “Was there anything like ‘National Leader’ while you were there?”
“No, my Leader,” Ige answered. “It was the Leader, followed by the Deputy Leader, which I was before I was called here.”
“Is that so, Triple A?”
“Indeed!” Adesanya chipped in. “I myself was Deputy to my Leader, Baba Ajasin. When Baba became ill and frail, I dutifully acted as Acting Leader. Baba Ajasin was Leader until he was called here.”
“Is that right, my partner?” looking in the direction of Ajasin.
Ajasin, always deep and taciturn, only nodded with a good-natured grunt.
“So, Ayo,” Awo turned from Ajasin to Adebanjo, “what happened? How come you became ‘National Leader’ when the Leader was still there. By the way, were you not his Deputy?”
“Yes, Bami. I was.”
“And he even made you Acting Leader, when he said, as I was told, that with old age he could no longer cope with the rigour and demand of the office?”
“Yes, Bami,” Adebanjo nodded.
But before he could answer further, Adesanya asked for permission to speak. Awo gave him the go-ahead.
“Please permit me, Baba. Even that — Fasoranti appointing Adebanjo Acting Leader — was not unique. I remember my own tenure as Leader. We had suddenly lost Bola,” Adesanya went the historical lane, “in tragic circumstances. He was my Deputy, and he never acted as anything beyond that, though the likes of Adebanjo also canvassed that we expel him, for nudging his zealous followers to form the rival Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE)”
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“Was that so, Bola?” Awo asked.
Ige nodded, a tad crest-fallen. “But, my Leader …”
Adesanya continued: “We never expelled him, though. But in the midst of all that, he was despatched here! We were all in great pains! Great anguish, indeed! So, we named another Deputy to succeed him — Fasoranti. But later, I fell ill. It was old age mixed with the rather draining efforts to keep Afenifere as one. During my very serious illness, however, Fasoranti served loyally as Acting Leader. I hear that his loyalty paved the way for him to become Leader after me, just as my loyalty to Baba Ajasin made me succeed him as Leader.”
“Very interesting! Very good!” Awo quipped. “So, you’re saying, Triple A, that Acting Leader had become the Afenifere convention, long before Fasoranti named Adebanjo as one?”
“Yes, indeed, Baba!”
“And everyone, from you, had kept to that principle, without rupturing the ingrained protocol that Afenifere only has one valid, living Leader?”
“Yes, indeed, Baba!” Adesanya concurred again.
“So, Ayo,” Awo said, turning to Adebanjo, “how come this ‘National Leader’ thing? Can you explain it?”
“Bami,” — it was the combative, no-retreat-no-surrender, eye-blazing-with-passion-of-conviction Adebanjo that faced his Leader, in whose name, as life-long Awoist, he did whatever he did — “times were changing. Too many opportunists were calling your name in vain. Too many of them had infiltrated Afenifere to gain political office in your name. Yet, they are not true Awoists! I felt I had to act before it was too late!”
“So, you’re saying Reuben is not a true Awoist?”
“No, Bami. I can’t say that — never! But he had allowed, as Leader, too many suspect Awoists to take advantage of your name for political office. Bami, I just had to act!”
“Interesting! Was that why you supported Peter Obi for President in 2023, against Bola Tinubu, who Reuben, your Leader, announced as the Afenifere choice?”
“Partly, Bami! But it was a bit more complicated.”
“How, Ayo?” Awo queried. “Are you saying Obi is more Awoist than Tinubu?”
“I can’t say that,” Adebanjo hee-hawed. “I really can’t say that. But Bami, Bola (I mean Tinubu) is only Awoist or progressive in name. He’s more of a pragmatist, who uses progressivism or Awoism as veneer. He does whatever works for him.”
“I see!” Awo chuckled. “But does he get results — I mean ‘progressives’ results? ‘Awoist’ results?”
“Bami! S’agbe loju yo yo ni! It’s all fake Awoism! Fake progressivism! Imagine tinsel passing as solid gold!”
“I see!” Awo chortled again. “Still, is Peter Obi more ‘progressive’ than Tinubu?”
“It’s more complex than being progressive or not. A fundamental core of Awoism is fairness to all. The Igbo had not produced a president. We had produced Obasanjo, the first elected president since 1999. So, I thought another Yoruba man becoming President was grossly unfair. That was why I backed Obi.”
“Not because he was a better Awoist or progressive?”
Loud quiet. But Ige stepped up to break it.
“There he goes again!” He told Awo, gesturing Adebanjo, enveloped in his loud quiet. “It’s either his way or the highway! The trouble Ayo gave Baba Adesanya!”
“Let’s even leave all that,” Awo interjected. “Ayo, do you realize naming yourself ‘National Leader’ may have split Afenifere for real, this time, thus putting a dent on your Awoist reformation or revolution? Even AMA, that left us for the reactionaries, doesn’t have the splitting of Afenifere to blight his name and foul his Memory…’
“Bami!” — Adebanjo was clearly agitated now — “I didn’t name myself ‘National Leader’! We held a meeting! We duly debated it! It was a thorough debate …!”
But alas! It was all a dream! Ripples just woke up! Goodness me! It seemed all so real!
