Akin Osuntokun is former Director-General of the ObiDatti Presidential Campaign Council during the 2023 elections. In this interview, he speaks on the appointment of Dele Farotimi as the organising secretary of pan-Yoruba socio political organisation, Afenifere; clamour for coalition and merger of political parties, and other issues, ANAYO EZUGWU writes

What is your thought on what has happened between Dele Farotimi and Chief Afe Babalola and his foray into the politics of Afenifere, given that he has now been appointed as the organising secretary of the group?

Dele’s case was one of those instances that tested my position because Chief Afe Babalola is my uncle from the maternal side. Dele is one of the closest people to me, so I must be the first person to write about it. My column comes out on Fridays. The news broke on a Wednesday, so I was right.

These are outstanding individuals that you cannot take anything out of it, And I remember commenting, but tried to be balanced. I’ve had some hard knocks from my family and friends and from Chief Afe Babalola’s side for being too balanced.

So, Dele’s case is something that the country and the society should be happy about. Now, should we be happy? He has become the kind of social conscience of the country. He’s fearless. He’s more or less, even the way you can refer now to him as a foremost human rights activist. I’m not saying that to put off the cuff. Some other people would say the most vocal.

Yeah. How can you be an activist without being vocal? When I’m talking about being vocal; what is he saying? If you’re vocal and you’re talking sense and you’re talking for the people, then you should even speak more, and so, that’s him.

I’ve been persuading him to play a more prominent role in Afenifere, but he has shied away from it. The main reason I was asking him to do so was the need to recruit the younger generation into Afenifere. Before him, I think I’ll probably be the youngest.

So, it’s good for us, good for the country, but especially, I’m very happy for Afenifere, which I belong to. Even before now, we were receiving letters from people who wanted to join Afenifere on account of the exposure that he has had. He’s going to perform that role very effectively. People who identify with him, I’m sure that a lot of them will come in, especially the younger people. I see things are just working to some kind of orchestration.

He was one of the spokespersons of the Peter Obi presidential campaign, whether you are in the campaign or not, they generally come under the rubric of Obidients. Of course, he is also a leader in that respect. So, it’s a very positive development. And I’m sure that going forward, you are going to see a lot of what I’m telling you coming to fruition. It’s like a lightning rod for change. And I’m sure he will do it.

You talked about how you try to be as neutral as possible, but often, when two people are in this type of dispute, it’s very difficult to be neutral and still be a party to both sides. Do you think that Dele Farotimi n Afenifere is a sign that the organisation backed him in this dispute?

First, you can’t be more Catholic than the Pope. So, as far as we know, Chief Afe Babalola, technically or legally, is not a complainant. So, if he’s withdrawing those charges which Dele was charged with, the implication of that is that in all the other areas where the cases have come forward, I think it becomes academic.

So that’s as far as that goes. Chief Afe Babalola is unfortunate because there is something that he does that, for me, makes him stand out. And that is, he’s probably the only person at such a very high level, consistently calling for restructuring.

If you want a nation, then do something that makes you to be logically consistent with that. You cannot be talking about national integration in which a part of the country is almost permanently marginalised

I don’t know of anyone of his status or prominence, whether a politician or lawyer, who does that. That is without prejudice to whatever other powers he may have. It means a lot to me that he’s taking it upon himself to play that role.

How did Dele Farotimi emerge as organising secretary if that position was reportedly being held by Abagun Omolulu?

And now that it looks like Obidients are populating Afenifere, are you now making Afenifere more political, and then semore Obidient? Afenifere of our description is not a socio-cultural organisation. It’s a sociopolitical organisation. You see, the ambiguity came when Chief Obafemi Awolowo started Egbe Omo Oduduwa, a sociocultural group.

He also founded Afenifere but people tend to confuse the two. Afenifere, as founded by Chief Awolowo is the political arm of party that Afenifere will join. In 1963, he made an address and called anybody who says that Afenifere is a socio-cultural group is a traitor.

You can go and read his presidential address in 1963 to his party, Action Group (AG). So, Afenifere is not a socio-cultural organisation. Maybe, part of the reason why people get confused is that during the long interregnum of the military in power, you cannot have political parties.

So, that is a cover under which the politicians of the centre of the left gather to talk as a political pressure group. So, they were observing and not being seen as a party, but at the same time taking on the role of a political party. So, at that period, it cannot call itself a party or anything. But realistically, Nigeria’s politics is predicated on ethno-regional cleavages. That is the truth. So, the dominant party in each of the regions will look as if this is a Yoruba party.

In the same way, you have Northern Peoples Congress as a Northern party, or NCNC as an Igbo party. So, there is also that confusion that parties in Nigeria tended to almost coincide with those cleavages. Now, Omolulu is relevant to the appointment of Dele Farotimi, completely. The appointment of Dele Farotimi was made by the Afenifere. In the Afenifere that he represents, I don’t think they even now have a deputy leader or officials.

Are there two Afenifere?

Yes, two groups claim it. So, to that extent, I will say my own Afenifere is the authentic one and somebody on the other side will make the same claim.

It’s free speech and freedom of association. No law has been violated by saying so. The tradition of Afenifere is that a leader tending towards retirement appoints somebody as acting leader, who effectively becomes the leader of the group, in this case, Chief Ayo Adebanjo.

Who appointed him acting leader of Afenifere?

Chief Reuben Fasoranti appointed Chief Ayo Adebanjo and he has a letter to that effect. You can’t have two captains on the same ship.

It is the same Chief Fasoranti who did that. So, when people talk, there ought to be some logical consistency in what you do. And you cannot come along the way and say no position again. So, as I said, they are attached to their position. If they want to, that’s all right.

There are talks of coalitions and mergers ahead of 2027 and the political space heating up. What role do you see Afenifere playing now that you have established that it’s a political arm?

It is predictable because first, I said left of centre. Second, is the sense of equity, justice and the cause of national integration.

By my reckoning, the next president, even from this time, from 2023, the next president of Nigeria should come from the South-East. That position still holds. Look, the thing about Nigeria is this hypocritical thing.

If you want a nation, then do something that makes you to be logically consistent with that. You cannot be talking about national integration in which a part of the country is almost permanently marginalised.

That was the question, the rotation between the North and South was set to address and they succeeded in doing that. But even within that zone, in this case, when it came back to the South, it is not fair for Chief Obasanjo to have spent eight years as president, Yemi Osinbajo spent eight years as vice president.

Now you are having another Yoruba person as president in a situation in which one of the zones in the south of the three has never been one. That is the position I believe and I’m sure, certainly, Afenifere is likely to also take in choosing a party to belong to. So, it’s a self-evident case.

That was what led us to support Obi the first time around. Apart from the fact that Obi himself is quite an outstanding candidate in his own right, mainly it’s out of his sense of fairness and justice that somebody from the South-East should be the president of Nigeria.

If it turns out that the clear path for Obi to emerge would be to strike a deal with Atiku Abubakar as some people are suggesting for Atiku to spend a term and Obi after deputizing him, takes over, will that still fall within what you think Afenifere will support?

Afenifere has not taken a position on that, but I have. What I’m saying now is my position and I still stick to it. I’m quite close to Atiku, but look, principles are principles. It becomes a principle when you have to do something that is not convenient for you.

That is the test of it. You don’t do it when it is convenient for you; you don’t say, okay, this is my principle, I support this, no. It is when it is not convenient, that is when it becomes a principle.

Until 2031, I personally still believe that that slot will revert to the South-East. Now, I’m an individual, I belong to organisations, and principally, the organisation that I will take a cue from is Afenifere. So, let us wait and see what position Afenifere takes. When we are discussing the points that I’m making now, I will make that point and I will see how others feel about it or think about it.