Afenifere Diaspora United States of America has described the death of Pa Ayo Adebanjo, as a great loss......CONTINUE READING THE ARTICLE FROM THE SOURCE>>>>>
Adebanjo passed away peacefully on the morning of Friday, February 14, 2025, at his residence in Lekki, Lagos State, at 96.
In a press statement signed by both Prof. Sikiru Fadairo, Leader Of Afenifere Diaspora USA And Comrade David Adenekan, Secretary of Afenifere Diaspora USA, respectively on Friday night, they said he had left a vacuum that is too big to be filled.
The group referred to a quote by English author, George Elliott; “Our dead are never dead to us until we have forgotten them.”
To immortalize his outstanding personality and leadership, the group said, “Pa Ayodele Samuel Adebanjo “die not” as we continue to embrace and practice his legacies of fairness, equity and justice in our national polity, even in the deadly face of intimidation and countless “naked powers” display by the power that be.”
The statement further reads, “Suffice it to say, death has done its worst, Pa Ayodele Samuel Adebanjo has peacefully joined our ancestors in the world beyond; it is indeed a life well spent but left a gargantuan loss and a vacuum too big to be filled for humanity.
“The entire family of Afenifere Diaspora USA, including our leader, Prof. Sikiru Fadairo, join the national leadership of Afenifere, the entire Yoruba at home and abroad, and Nigeria to mourn and celebrate a life well spent of Pa. Ayo Samuel Adebanjo.
“We are mourning and celebrating the passing away of another sage in the history of humanity, a man that has sacrificed his enjoyment of life with the great burden of selfless service to humanity, it does not matter “whose ox is gored”, he spoke the truth to power.
“Pa Ayo Samuel Adebanjo, in his entire life, stood for justice, equity and fairness. A case in point was his determination to give the south-east geo-political zone a fair share of the rotational presidency among the six geo-political zones to underscore the need for fairness, justice and equity”, the group said.
Continuing, the group said: “Pa Ayo Adebanjo, you die not as your philosophy of fairness, equity, justice, and the principle of all-inclusiveness in our national polity will forever remain a placard in the minds of generations to come.
“It then begs the fundamental question: Can Yoruba, as a people in dire need of purposeful and visionary leadership, fill the big vacuum you have left behind?
“The above fundamental question brings to light that your passing away is truly a gargantuan loss and creates a leadership vacuum.
“Again, Pa Ayodele Samuel Adebanjo’s exit to the mortal world is another passing away of a sage in the history of Yoruba as a people and the entire humanity.
“Yes, another sage is gone; it is the beginning of a new dawn, and whose head will fit the cap for the evolution of a new era in the entire Afenifere family?”
“What a transition! Pa Ayo Samuel Adebanjo rest in peace. A big elephant has fallen (Erin wo) in the forest, but you “die not.”