COMMUNIQUE ISSUED AFTER A MEETING OF AFENIFERE HELD AT AKURE RESIDENCE OF THE LEADER, PA REUBEN FASORANTI, OFR, ON WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 30, 2023.
The Leader of Afenifere Worldwide, Pa Reuben Famuyide Fasoranti, OFR, convened a meeting of Thought of the organization at his residence in Akure (the Ondo State Capital) on August 30, 2023.
Members came from all Yoruba speaking states.
After the opening prayer, The Leader, Pa Fasoranti, welcomed participants.
He briefly recounted some of the happenings since the last two years that he hosted Afenifere meeting in his residence. He raised a number of issues which set the tone for the discussion that followed and resolutions that were made thereafter.
At the behest of The Leader, HRH, Oba Olu Falae directed the meeting in which everyone made contributions.
After exhaustive discussions, following resolutions were made:
1. Afenifere is to be reinvigorated to be stronger and be able to continue to fulfill its mandate of being the Vanguard for the Yoruba Race.
2. To achieve this, a Committee is to be set up to achieve Reconciliation and Unity.
3. Afenifere is an Ideological Movement. It is not a Political Party.
4. Deviation from the basic Principles of Afenifere has been responsible for the undesirable turn of events in the last two years.
5. Arising from the above, Afenifere is to be brought back to its core values and tradition.
6. The meeting took note of Census coming up next year. It was noted that biometric method was successfully used for Voters Card registration.
As such, Afenifere strongly call the Federal Government to make the National Population Commission to use the same Biometric Method rather than the manual method that is prone to abuse as had happened several times in the past.
The meeting expressed profound appreciation to The Leader for hosting the meeting and to other leaders present.
Comrade Jare Ajayi,
National Publicity Secretary.
SPEECH BY PA FASORANTI
I heartily welcome you all to this special meeting of Afenifere, which I have convened to rub minds with you on how to reposition our organization for greater efficiency, effectiveness, cohesion and relevance.
Since I appointed my brother, Chief Ayo Adebanjo and Oba Oladipo Olaitan as acting leader and deputy leader respectively about three years ago, a lot has happened. Among these is the fact that many of us have added more years to our lives.
While we have been blessed in many ways by the almighty God, it is also on record that we have lost some of our people. We commiserate with the families of those concerned while we pray for the rest of us to enjoy the grace of God for many more years and many more decades for the
younger ones in our midst.
In addition to these, a noticeable drift away from our core values of consultation, brotherliness and camaraderie and traditional process of conducting the business of the organization, upon which our collegial system of leadership is based, has been severely threatened.
This threat has been further exacerbated by more recent events, culminating in a fracture of the traditional backbone of the organization. I am sorry to say, without
mincing words, that our organization is in a sorry state and requires urgent restoration effort to steer it away from the current trajectory.
This wasn’t my vision or expectation
when I appointed the acting leader and deputy leader. And to say that I am sad and disappointed at the turn of events is an understatement. I am particularly disturbed because unless, we take urgent remedial action, the future looks very bleak and the necessary resources to revamp our organization are being depleted by the day.
I have called you here.today therefore, as leaders and responsible members of this organization, to challenge. Yourself to find a lasting solution to the current impasse. I implore you to engage frankly and honestly in the spirit of comradeship and mutual respect for which we are well known and upon which this organization is founded.
With determination and commitment, I believe you are all able to find a solution that will propel Afenifere to greater heights. I wish you fruitful and successful deliberations.
To facilitate the bridging of the gap which has become apparent among us in the center, I have asked Kabiyesi the Olu of Ilu Abo, Oba Olu Falae though retired from Politics and has become inactive as one of our leaders in recent time to come and preside at this meeting. I hope you will all cooperate with him in finding a way forward for organization.
To keep Afenifere one is a task that must be achieved by us all. I thank you for coming. I thank you for your attention and pray that after our will return safely to your various destinations as I eagerly look forward to see again next month by the grace of God.
God bless you all
Chief Reuben Famuyide Fasoranti (OFR),
The Leader Afenifere worldwider