***Says President Counterfeits What He Cannot Buy or Control
Human rights lawyer and activist, Dele Farotimi, has accused President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of deliberately creating a parallel version of the Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, to advance his political interests.
Farotimi, who is also the National Secretary of Afenifere, alleged in a series of posts on his verified X handle that the President has a “pattern of fabricating institutions whenever he cannot buy influence or secure legitimacy.”
“Tinubu has his own specially created schools, his own bishops, and now his own iteration of Afenifere,” he wrote. “Everything Tinubu cannot purchase or influence, he counterfeits. This is NOT Afenifere—these are Tinubu’s poodles.”
His remarks followed online debates over claims that Afenifere was aligning with the Tinubu administration. Farotimi dismissed such reports as propaganda, insisting that the faction backing the President does not represent the authentic voice of the Yoruba socio-political organisation.
The controversy underscores deepening fractures within Afenifere, once regarded as the bastion of Yoruba nationalism. While some elders of the group have declared support for Tinubu, others remain strongly opposed, accusing him of betraying Afenifere’s ideals for personal ambition.
Analysts say the renewed tussle over Afenifere’s soul reflects wider struggles in Nigeria’s democracy, where ethnic and regional platforms are increasingly being contested as tools of political legitimacy and survival.