The leader of the Pan-Yoruba sociopolitical organisation Afenifere, Pa Ayo Adebanjo, has said that the group will appeal the results of the February 25 presidential election to the Supreme Court as responses both domestically and globally following the just concluded polls in Nigeria.
Adebanjo argued that Nigerians should not allow their rights to be violated in his speech during a ceremony of thanksgiving conducted to honor his 95th birthday anniversary at St. Phillip’s Anglican Church in Ogbo Ijebu, Ogun State, alleging alleged electoral fraud and bribery during the process.
The elderly man said that his efforts to improve Nigeria were not selfish but rather intended at releasing the general populace from the chains of oppression, poverty, unemployment, poor leadership, and other vices.
“Don’t be afraid because we have just started the fight,” he said, urging Nigerians not to allow their rights to be trampled upon.
Adebanjo also criticized the current state of the country, saying, “This is not the Nigeria we fought for. What would the Sage, Pa Obafemi Awolowo, Late Nnamdi Azikiwe, and Sardauna of Sokoto be saying about our present abysmal state in the country? This is not how we practised politics.”
He added that the election was a “daylight robbery” marred by violence and needless killings, and those who said they should stop pursuing the matter failed to understand that this was not his fight but that of the masses. “It is not my concern if Peter Obi of the Labour Party becomes the president. What would he offer me at this age? But, I am fighting for the masses,” he said.
Adebanjo further explained that Afenifere was not a member of the Labour Party, but the party stood for the ideals of Afenifere. He stated that he wanted liberation for Nigerians, and the APC could not claim to be fighting for the cause of the Yoruba more than Afenifere or himself.
He concluded by emphasizing that Afenifere would not relent or falter in its commitment to the enthronement of justice, fairness, and equity. He said,
“Even if it remains only five of us in Afenifere, we would continue the fight and struggle for a better and viable Nigeria as Baba Obafemi Awolowo taught us.”