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By Chukwudi Nweje
Pan Yoruba socio political organisation, Afenifere, Wednesday announced that it will carry out major reforms in its organisational structure with the aim of returning the group to its original intention to be the vanguard of the Yoruba race and ideological movement.
This was disclosed in a communiqué signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Jare Ajayi, after a meeting at the Akure, Ondo State residence of its leader Pa Reuben Fasonrati.
The communiqué said in part, “Afenifere is to be brought back to its core values and tradition. In this wise, Afenifere will continue to hold its monthly meeting in accordance with its laid down principles and tradition.
“Afenifere is to be reinvigorated to be stronger to continue to fulfil its mandate of being the vanguard for the Yoruba race.
“To achieve this, a committee is to be set up to achieve reconciliation and unity.
“Afenifere is an ideological movement. It is not a political party. Deviation from the basic principles of Afenifere has been responsible for the undesirable turn of events in the last two years.”
The group also demanded that biometrics should be adopted in conducting the next national census whenever it comes up.
The census exercise was earlier scheduled to hold between May 3 to 7, 2023, but had to be postponed.
The National Population Commission (NPC) said the exercise was postponed due to the transition programme and post-election mood in the country.
However, Afenifere stated that the same kind of biometrics used in conducting the 2023 general election should be used in conducting the census when it comes up.
The communiqué further said,
“Biometric method was successfully used for Voters’ Card registration, as such, Afenifere strongly calls on the Federal Government to make the National Population Commission (NPC) use the same biometric method rather than the manual method that is prone to abuse as had happened several times in the past.”
The Afenifere meeting which was last held in Akure two years ago, was attended by former minister of Finance, Chief Olu Falae and other prominent Yoruba from Kwara, Lagos, Ekiti, Oyo, Osun, Ogun and Ondo States.
