After Fasoranti: Can Afenifere bring the Yoruba together?

By Remi Ladigbolu The death of Pa Reuben Fasoranti has exposed a fundamental weakness in Yoruba political leadership. Despite a long tradition of political organisation and public service, the Yoruba lack an inclusive, broadly accepted structure capable of setting common priorities and sustaining a political direction. Organisations and factions claim to represent the same people, yet they often pursue separate courses, with no recognised platform to reconcile their differences or organise joint action. Fasoranti belonged to a political tradition shaped by Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Chief Adekunle Ajasin and Chief Abraham Adesanya. His standing helped hold Afenifere together through years of political uncertainty and internal division. His death raises a question that cannot be answered by choosing a successor alone.

How can the Yoruba preserve their political inheritance without depending on another exceptional individual to hold them together? Afenifere is best placed to lead the search for an answer. But it must do more than fill Fasoranti’s position. It needs to resolve its own divisions and open its doors to the wider Yoruba community, including people and organisations with different political loyalties. Archbishop Emeritus Ayo Ladigbolu, chairman of the Yoruba Unity Forum and a member of the Afenifere Elders’ Caucus, addressed this problem at the South-West Stakeholders’ Dialogue in Akure on October 29 and 30, 2025. Organised by Afenifere with support from the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria Commission, the meeting considered governance, democracy and the region’s future. Ladigbolu argued that the Yoruba could neither recreate the circumstances that produced Awolowo and Ajasin nor wait for another leader of their stature. He also lamented that organisations…