Frontline Pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, rose from a meeting in Ibadan on Thursday adopting the candidature of President Muhammadu Buhari as its presidential candidate ahead of the 2019 general elections. The group told newsmen shortly after the well-attended meeting held at the House of Chiefs, Secretariat, Ibadan, and presided over by Senator Ayo Fasanmi, that it will on Tuesday, 29th January 2019, make a formal declaration of its position also in the Oyo State capital. According to the Senator Ayo Fasanmi group of Afenifere, President Muhammadu Buhari has performed well, hence he deserved another term in office. The group's pronouncement is coming up barely three months after another Afenifere group led by Chief Rueben Fasoranti had told newsmen through Chief Ayo Adebanjo that it will support the candidature of former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, come 2019. In attendance at the Afenifere meeting in Ibadan this Thursday were Chief Ayo Fasanmi, former governor of Oyo State, Dr. Victor Omololu Olunloyo, Senator Biyi Durojaye and the Chairman of Ekiti State chapter of the group, Chief Biodun Akin Fasae, among others. Fasae who spoke with journalists on behalf of the group described the Chief Reuben Fasoranti group as 'usurper'. He said: "We decided to host the whole Yorubaland in Ibadan on January 29 next year. It is to proclaim support of the Yorubaland for President Muhammadu Buhari come 2019. And also to tell the whole world that the Afenifere that Baba Awolowo created before he left is still intact. "The Afenifere is a progressive movement and any Afenifere who is not a progressive is not Afenifere. The Afenifere that Baba Awolowo created is still intact and we are going to support President Muhammadu Buhari and Professor Yemi Osinbajo in the presidential election come February 2019". Fasae explained that President Buhari has performed well and deserved another term in office. He spoke further: "The economy is a collective issue, the unemployment that we have is getting better. Look at the school feeding programme, look at the many millions of naira they are spending, look at the number of school children they are feeding. Look, children are being fed, 27 states are benefitting. And many other things that are happening and unemployment has reduced. Buhari has done his best and his best is yet to come. That is why we are telling people to vote for him particularly in the Yorubaland." He insisted that the Chief Ayo Fasanmi-led Afenifere is the "authentic Afenifere" claiming that the one led by Chief Reuben Fasoranti is not part of Afenifere. "I just said it now. This is not a faction. I said that the Afenifere we know in Yorubaland is a progressive movement and this is where we are today in Ibadan and the other Afenifere that is talking about Atiku, the Ayo Adebanjo group, is not part of Afenifere. They are usurpers in the group".
