The pan Yoruba socio-political organization, Afenifere, has distanced itself from a social media account allegedly belonging to its Leader, Pa Ayo Adebanjo.
In a statement by the organization’s National Publicity Secretary, Comrade Jare Ajayi, Afenifere said that the Twitter account which some electronic media houses quoted does not belong to any of its leaders, least of all, Pa Adebanjo.
“It is hereby clearly stated that Chief Adebanjo has no social media account of any sort. Whenever he has anything to say to the public, he does so directly by addressing the Press, through an interview or a Press statement. He also addresses the public through the Secretary-General or the National Publicity Secretary of Afenifere,” he said.
The statement added that the social media account was created by mischievous persons for nefarious objectives as could be gleaned from one of the posts purporting to explain why Adebanjo is supporting Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, LP, in the forthcoming presidential election in 2023 “instead of Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu, a Yorubaman.”
Ajayi quoted Chief Adebanjo as saying that his support for Obi is “more fundamental and constitutional than the reason being purported in the spurious social media account” under reference.
He said: “In view of the fact that Adebanjo usually speaks directly with the Press, both print and electronic, any information purporting to have emanated from his ‘social media account’ should be totally discountenanced because he has no such account in any form or manner.
“Since the elder statesman does not have any social media account, whatever is found in the Twitter account could not be said to have come from him. He has no such accounts as he speaks directly to the media or causes his views to be channeled to the public via the organisation’s Secretary-General or the National Publicity Secretary.
“The media and members of the public are hereby enjoined to disregard any statement purported to have been sourced from Pa Adebanjo’s social media account”.
