The youth wing of the Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, has asked Ayo Adebanjo, to immediately “step down” as the acting leader of the group, in the interest of peace.

The youths, under the aegis of Yoruba Afenifere Youth Organisation of Nigeria (YAYON), made the call on Tuesday, at a protest held in Akure, Ondo’s capital city, to demand the resignation of Mr Adebanjo, as the leader.

Peoples Gazette reports that the protesters stormed the Akure residence of Reuben Fasoranti, the foremost leader of the group, to pass a “Vote of No Confidence” on Mr Adebanjo.

Armed with placards bearing different inscriptions, the youths, which included aged women, accused Mr Adebanjo of compromising the interest of the Yoruba people.

The inscription read; “Pa Fasoranti: Pls Revoke The Mandate you gave Pa Adebanjo Now”; “Our vote of no confidence remains stands”; “Afenifere must be restructured now”; “Pa Fasoranti please rescue Afenifere”; “Ayo Adebanjo must go”; “Pa Ayo Adebanjo: Time to step aside from Afenifere.”

Eric Oluwole, the national youth leader of the group, who spoke on behalf of the protesters, said the youths would only recognise Mr Fasoranti as the leader of Afenifere.

“We want peace and we want Baba (Fasoranti) to take over because we still recognise him as the leader of Afenifere. So, he has to talk to him (Adebanjo). He’s the one who appointed him as acting leader.

“We can only depend on Baba Fasoranti as the national leader to immediately call Ayo Adebanjo to order and to step down immediately”, Mr Oluwole said.

He alleged that the group has continued to derail since Mr Adebanjo took over as acting leader of the apex Yoruba nation, adding that the youths needed to intervene.

While maintaining that 96-year-old Mr Fasoranti remained the leader of the Yoruba group, Mr Oluwole said it would be in good interest for Mr Adebanjo to stop parading himself as the leader of Afenifere.

“Now, the whole drama has changed and the youths are involved. We want to make sure that we are part of the restructuring of Afenifere.

“And we cannot continue like this anymore. So, the only person we recognise in this Yoruba nation is Pa Reuben Fasoranti as the national leader of Afenifere and he remains the leader.

“We, hereby call upon Pa Ayo Adebanjo to step down immediately and he should stop parading himself as the national leader of Afenifere. We recall that Baba wrote him a letter then to act on his behalf,” he added.

Bukola Olusoto, the women leader of Afenifere, who also spoke said the group has decided to pass “a vote of no confidence” on Mr Adebajo.

Mrs Olusoto explained that both the youths and women in Afenifere have decided that sanity should be restored to the socio-political group.

“We are here to pass a vote of no confidence on Mr Ayo Adebanjo. We are in support of Pa Fasoranti. And we are using one voice that we no longer have confidence in him. We don’t recognise him anymore. We only recognise Baba and we stand by him,” she also said.

According to her, Mr Adebanjo is not “the almighty God of Yoruba nation or the universe” but we believe we can talk to him to allow peace to reign.

“So, what we need is sanity for Afenifere. We believe in Baba’s leadership. If he’s unable to listen then we would take it from there. We do not threaten him but we are only saying he should step down in the interest of Afenifere,” she also said.

Addressing the protesters on behalf of Fasoranti, the Chief Security Officer to the Afenifere leader, Ogunkalu Sunday, sued for peace among the youths.

“Baba (Fasoranti) said he is aware of all your asking for and he said you should not fight but allow peace to reign,” he said.

Speaking in a brief chat with The Gazette, Mr Adebanjo said he was not willing to react to the protesters, whom he accused of being strangers in the apex Yoruba group.

He said, “I don’t know them and I have repeatedly said I don’t know their father. I don’t know their parents. They are only encouraging them to be talking.

“I have told you they don’t exist. I think some people just gathered them and gave them money to make them start talking as if something is happening in Afenifere.”

The socio-political group had since been plunged into division since Mr Adebanjo became the acting leader of Afenifere.

The crisis in the group further deepened when Mr Adebanjo’s led group endorsed Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) for the presidential election while Mr Fasoranti backed Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the same exercise.