15th February 2025, NewsOrient, News. From Our Editorial Suite

As Nigerians mourn the passing of elder statesman and leader of Pan-Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, who took the final bow yesterday, February 14 2025, they recall his great courage, vision and rare nationalistic disposition.

Amongst leaders and organisations that have formally issued statements to honour the late nationalist are President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 Presidential Elections, Peter Obi and Afenifere.

As NewsOrient reported yesterday, Mr Peter Obi, in his statement on the demise of the elder statesman, said Pa Adebanjo, in his last chat with him before his passing, urged him never to give up in his pursuit for the truth.

Pa Adebanjo, a lawyer, was a great leader with deep conviction. As a politician, he would always make his stand known and will fight hard not to be led by the nose by anyone or any group but by his convictions.

When his political activism became first known, he chose to stand with the Zikist Movement, that is to say that he began his political career as a follower of the late Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe.

This was in the 1940s, in the early years of the nationalist struggle for Nigerian independence.

A Nigerian nationalist of Yoruba extraction, Pa Adebanjo was born on April 10, 1928 in Isanya Ogbo, a village near Ijebu Ode in Ogun State, South-West Nigeria.

He began public life as a journalist before he travelled to the United Kingdom to study law. He was called to the English Bar in 1961.

Records on his biography said “Pa Adebanjo joined politics at an early age. He formally joined the independence struggle in 1943 as a Zikist, a follower of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, called the Zik of Africa.

In 1951 he registered as a member of the youth wing of the Action Group, and a mentee and political disciple of late Chief Obafemi Awolowo.

Over the years, Pa Adebanjo eventually became the Leader of Afenifere, the apex Yoruba socio-cultural organisation.

During the last General Elections in Nigeria in 2023, Pa Adebanjo, as the Leader of the Pan-Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, publicly threw his weight, alongside his Afenifere group, behind the candidacy of Peter Obi of the Labour Party in the 2023 Presidential Election.

In spite of stiff opposition by some elements in his former Action Group political family, Pa Adebanjo held and maintained the view that Labour Party’s Peter Obi was the right candidate for Nigeria of today.

In his last celebrated major interview on earth, an interview exclusively conducted by Mr Ikechukwu Amaechi for TheNiche Newspaper, on February 13, 2023, at Pa Adebanjo’s Lekki home in Lagos, the Afenifere Leader, powerfully restated his views and warned Nigerians of the likely consequences of not voting “right” during the elections.

He said in that prophetic interview: “Nigerians should open their eyes; shine your eyes and vote solidly for the Obi-Datti ticket on February 25. That is the only thing you have now. It is your last hope. If you miss it, you will regret it forever.

“Put it down. Your last hope is to vote Obi-Datti ticket solidly and show that indeed you have been suffering. If you allow anybody to buy your votes, aaah, you are in a dungeon.”

Nigerians voted after that interview but the result finally announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which said the Obi-Datti ticket came third, was unsuccessfully contested in the election petition tribunals.

Now, even as Pa Adebanjo closed his eyes to his eternal rest, Nigerians are lamenting over hunger and hardship. Is this the dungeon Pa Adebanjo predicted two years ago?

Pa Adebanjo is survived by his wife, Chief Christy Ayo-Adebanjo, a 94-year-old, his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

In the message formally announcing Pa Adebanjo’s passing, the family wrote:
“We will forever cherish his commitment to fighting for truth, equity and justice. His belief and struggle for a truly independent and progressive Nigeria was total and this he fought for until he breathed his last breath .”

NewsOrient confirms that a condolence register has been opened at his residence in Lagos (8, Ayo Adebanjo Close, Lekki Phase 1, Lagos) and his country home in Isanya Ogbo, near Ijebu Ode, Ogun State.

~ NewsOrient

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