THE waiting game continues for the mainstream Yoruba socio-political organisation, the Afenifere, over its support for the re-election bid of President Olusegun Obasanjo. It is also holding its peace on possible sanctions on two political gladiators in Lagos State using its name for mutually exclusive purposes.

The group, which met at the Ijebu-Igbo, Ogun State home of its leader Chief Abraham Adesanya, could not reach a consensus on both knotty issues.

A faction had canvassed sanctions on the Lagos State Governor, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, for allegedly refusing to implement its directive on the resolution of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) crisis by adopting a 60:40 sharing formula with the factional leadership of Alhaji Ganiyu Dawodu.

Another group, however, strongly canvassed sanctions on Dawodu for disobeying the Afenifere directive that no member should join any party other than the AD under any circumstances.

Dawodu, now contesting against Tinubu, had defended his defection to the Progressive Action Congress (PAC) on the alleged ground that his group was being made politically irrelevant by Tinubu, who had disregarded the 60:40 sharing formula.

Both parties are canvassing for votes in the state using the Afenifere platform, and discrediting the other's claim to the Yoruba organisation.

Although a majority of the members of Afenifere pushed support for the endorsement of Obasanjo citing the need for continuity as a basis for democratic growth, some others opposed their idea. The latter group noted a statement credited to the South-West National Vice-Chairman of the People's Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Bode George, that the Afenifere was planning to support the President out of enlightened self interest.

The PDP chieftain was reported to have said that the Afenifere had no choice but to support Obasanjo because a majority of their supporters had already, decided to support the re-election bid.

Following the sharp disagreements Chief Adesanya was said to have deferred decision on the issue till next week.

The Afenifere reviewed the Lagos State crisis but rejected the option of sanctions against Tinubu, insisting that if it expelled the governor and he eventually lost, Tinubu would rightly put the blame at the group's door steps.

It was therefore agreed that both Tinubu and Dawodu should throw their hats into the April 19 governorship election.

The association, however, promised to mediate further in the crisis after the elections.

Besides, the issue of Obasanjo's re-election, and the crisis in Lagos, other AD states also briefed the leadership of Afenifere on progress ahead of the April polls.

Although details of their briefings were not known, reports showed confidence in AD might retain its six states in the South-west but the group restated the need for the party to work hard in two states because of the massive threat of the PDP.

Confirming the details of the meeting yesterday, Chief Dawodu told The Guardian that the crisis in Lagos was discussed.

He disclosed that Afenifere agreed that both Tinubu of the AD and himself should go for the elections in April since both parties could not reach a common position.

Dawodu told The Guardian that he explained the position of his group to the Afenifere, especially why they went to PAC.

"Yes, the issue of Lagos State was discussed. We had hoped that a final solution would be found. But I explained in detail why my group went to PAC. It is just to provide us a platform to contest the election since Tinubu's group refused to accept the 60:40 formula as directed by the Afenifere," he said.

On the issue of the re-election bid of President Obasanjo, Dawodu said the Afenifere could not reach a decision because all members of the group must be carried along in taking such vital decision.

He however, said many members were rooting for Obasanjo but warned that some chieftains of the PDP in the West might not be helping the President's cause with their inflammatory statements.

Those who attended the meeting included Governors Niyi Adebayo (Ekiti), Adebayo Adefarati (Ondo), Segun Osoba (Ogun) and Bisi Akande, Osun.

The others were Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Chief Laniwu Ajayi.

Tinubu was absent at the meeting because of his on-going campaign.

The Afenifere also insisted that the coming elections must hold as scheduled, despite calls in some quarters for its postponement.

The group argued that postponing the elections at this stage would create more problems that it might be difficult to solve.

The meeting appealed to all stakeholders in the political process to ensure that the coming elections were not only violent-free, but also fair.

The group's national administrative secretary, Mr. Yinka Odumakin who briefed the press after the meeting, disclosed that the resolved to cooperate with President Olusegun Obasanjo to ensure that the elections are free and fair.

"In all our discussions with the President, we have agreed that the elections will be violent-free and fair in the South-West," he affirmed.

According to him, the view of Afenifere was that whoever emerges in any of the elections as the winner must do so through a transparent process, adding "we shall not tolerate any attempt to cause confusion or rig the elections."

Odumakin confirmed that Afenifere and the AD had agreed to support President Obasanjo's re-election bid but the announcement to support him will come after April 12 elections."

His words: "We are happy with the preparations for the elections in all the states. We encourage our people to ensure that their campaigns are devoid of violence."

According to Odumakin, intelligence report at their disposal indicates that some politicians were planning to rig the election through violence.

Adesanya who spoke to reporters before the closed-door meeting expressed optimism that the elections would be non-violent.