By Dr Seun Kolade When Afenifere recently announced its support for Peter Obi’s presidential candidacy, under the auspices of the labour party, not a few were taken by surprise, for various reasons. Perhaps the most vocal have been political associates and supporters of former Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the presidential candidate of APC. Tinubu’s supporters argued, in effect, that the fundamental principle of self-preservation dictated that Yoruba’s leading socio-political organisation must give support to “one of their own”, in spite of any grievances they may have about Tinubu’s flaws and past failings. The argument went further: to discountenance Tinubu’s candidacy is to work against Yoruba interest. I will return to this in a moment, but let us also consider the response of another group, supporters of Peter Obi who were pleasantly surprised by Afenifere’s endorsement of Obi’s candidacy. In their reckoning, Afenifere had proven, with its endorsement of Obi’s presidential cand...
