Ex-Governor Gbenga Daniel challenges Afenifere on Yoruba unity

Otunba Gbenga Daniel, former Governor of Ogun State, has stressed the need for the Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere, to expand its scope and accommodate stakeholders from across all political parties and interests groups in order to form a strong platform to liberate the Yoruba race.

Daniel stated this while hosting members of the Ogun State Chapter of Afenifere led by one of its founding members, Senator Femi Okunrounmu and the State Chairman, Otunba Kunle Majekodunmi, who were on visitation to his Asoludero residence in Sagamu on Thursday.

According to him, recent developments in the polity have made it expedient for the group to evolve and throw its doors wide open to allow members from different political affiliations come into the fold.

“There’s nothing that is static. We have to take a second look around and see the emancipation of Yoruba race as the centerpiece of our collective goal.

“To liberate the Yoruba race, we must first of all bring everybody back to Afenifere. We have to open our eyes wide and see that there’s is a clear and precise danger ahead which could only be surmounted if we sit down and use our God’s given talent of fighting and winning wars without the use of weapons as we had during the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) days,” he said.

In his own speech, Senator Okunrounmu described Otunba Daniel as one of the pillars of Afenifere who has made and is still making immense contributions to the sustainability of the group more especially after the death of Chief Abraham Adesanya.

Afenifere, as a group, he said, usually gets stronger in times of crisis because that is when all the stakeholders come together under one umbrella and concerted efforts must be made to see that it is firmly on ground to checkmate any unforeseen occurrence.

He also indicted the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) as a party that is incompetent to rule the nation going by the level of hunger, high rate of unemployment and insecurity in the nation calling for restructuring as the only solution to the nation’s problem.

“We must go back to the old constitution that recognised the autonomy of each region so that each can exploit its resources and develop at its own pace,” he said.

Earlier, the State Chairman of Afenifere, Otunba Kunle Majekodunmi, who spoke about the importance of the organisation thanked Otunba Daniel for his constant support and hinted that he has identified three key areas as his major projects to move the organisation forward in security, publicity and funding.

Present at the meeting were former Chairman of Odogbolu Local Government, Otunba Kunle Bolujoko, Chief Jide Sanyaolu, Mr. Kunle Mabinuori, Chief R. K. Majekodunmi, Princess Taiwo Okusaga, Otunba Tayo Onayemi and other distinguished stakeholders.