Afenifere reaffirms Oba Olaitan as Leader, rejects forest guards, backs state police.

Afenifere reaffirms Oba Olaitan as Leader, rejects forest guards, backs state police. The Pan Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, has backed the establishment of State Police against the Federal Government-controlled Forest Guards, a development viewed as a palliative too little which also contradicts the very essence of Nigeria federal Union. In a communique signed by the Secretary-General, Sola Ebiseni, after its Monthly General Meeting held at the residence of its Leader, Oba Oladipo Olaitan in Ilesha on Tuesday, the group backed the age long call for State police to frontally addressed the worsening insecurity of lives and property in Nigeria. “Afenifere expressed concerns about the frightening state of insecurity and called for the establishment of State Police in line with true federalism". Afenifere insisted that State Police will work better for our situation rather than the proposed Forest Guards with overriding Federal Command, particularly in our federation where land matters is within exclusive constitutional jurisdiction of states. “We believe that Forest Guard with Federal command is anti-federalism”. While condemning acts of terrorism in the North-central part of the country, the group called for a return to modern agriculture with adequate security for farmers, adding that it would soon establish skill acquisition centres in member states to train youths free of charge. The group also reaffirmed the appointment of Oba Oladipo Olaitan as its new Leader, saying his appointment to the position of Deputy Leader in 2021 which was approved by Pa Reuben Fasoranti after his retirement, has also ensured that the leadership of the Afenifere rotated to the Oyo/Osun axis. Ebiseni further stated that the “general meeting reaffirmed the appointment of Oba Oladipo Olaitan as the new Leader of Afenifere. “Following his retirement as the Leader of Afenifere in April 2021, our revered Leader, Chief Reuben Fasoranti handed over to Chief Ayo Adebanjo and appointed the then National Financial Secretary, Oba Oladipo Olaitan as the Deputy Leader, the position he held till the glorious demise of our iconic Leader, Chief Ayo Adebanjo on the 14th February 2025. “The significance of this visionary appointment is that since inception in 1951 the leadership of Afenifere now moves out of what looked like rotation between the Ondo/Ekiti and Ogun/Lagos zones to the Oyo/Osun axis. “At the March 2025 General Meeting held at the residence of our late Leader at Isanya-Ogbo, it was Resolved that the Deputy Leader should serve as Leader in acting capacity and shall automatically assume office as the substantive Leader after the burial of our revered Chief Ayo Adebanjo”. In a related development a fraction loyal to President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu led by the retired leader of Afenifere has purportedly declared Chief Olu Falae, a former Finance Minister as Chairman. Reacting to the mischief, Secretary of Afenifere in the US David Adenekan stated categorically that " A man who's mindset of capitalism, the so called Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) as a Minister of Finance under the Military junta, which was antithetical to the welfare ideology of Afenifere is not just fit to lead the group".