I’m On National Reconciliation Project –Olawepo-Hashim

Gbenga Olawepo- Hashim is the Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Trust (PT), the party endorsed by a coalition of civil society organisations also known as the Third Force. In this interview with select newsmen, speaks on his chances and why Nigerians will prefer him as the best alternative to the candidates of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). TEMIDAYO AKINSUYI brings the excerpts:

Your base is seen as the North Central. The enthusiasm that you have painted that the party is going to be one of the first two, which other zones are you expecting the votes?

I think we will win the North Central for sure, by the grace of God. We will do well in South West. We will do well all over the North and we are getting our message to the South East and the South South. The South East and South South have a very peculiar problem and it is not about PT or APC. A lot of people feel a sense of huge injustice about Nigeria as a state from those regions and that’s the way politics have been defined for some time there. None of the two big parties can say that they have those zones for keep. Majority of the people in those zones are preoccupied more with other questions than even the 2019 elections. The urgent question that confront them is how do we find equity, how do we see that we are part of this? We are getting our message in and I believe that we have a pathway to victory in 2019, more than a number of people have even given us the chance for.

Are you scared by reports in some quarters that the February elections are already concluded and that that the results are known?

I’m not scared by all these noise that some people have already concluded the election. I’m not scared about that. We had only five parties when Abacha concluded his election by making sure that all the five available parties endorsed him. What was left was for him to be coroneted as President. But did he become President? He didn’t become President. So, it’s just that people forget things easily and some people have short memories. Nobody can play God in the affairs of Nigeria. My advice is that let us be responsible people and know that power is transient. Let us also know that we owe this country a responsibility to improve the situation in which we have found ourselves.

Talking about going round and talking to people, there is this impression that Nigeria is much more divided than any other time. What message do you tell the people while going across the country?


We were somewhere in the South East and we had an all-night quiet meeting and these people we met are people with deep roots in the east because these are patriots who have produced a lot of the people that you see on the scene today and a lot of people defer to them and who really bitter about the situation of Nigeria. Incidentally, I went with a team of my Chief Press Secretary, Dr. Jahleel Tafawa-Balewa and some of these people were talking about pains, why they are not really enthusiastic about Nigeria. They talked about pains which were of course very legitimate pains that had to be addressed. They were really bitter with Nigeria as a state. Then Balewa got up and said you people are talking about pains, my father was killed over allegations of corruption by some officers of a certain regional extraction. He never had a single property anywhere in the world, not talk about a bank account. He left nothing for us, and then my mother happen to be of the same parentage with Chief Ladoke Akintola, the same father, the same mother and Chief Ladoke Akintola, who by then was Premier of Western Region, was killed that same day Tafawa Balewa and Sardauna were killed. As an eight year old boy, I’ve borne this pain since I was told that my uncle died and my father died too. It was a double barrel tragedy for him. He said what pain are you talking about. It was very interesting to see and it was laboratory for me in testing hypothesis for national reconciliation and everyday calmed down. They we are ready to give you chance seeing where you are coming from and indeed you are very serious about this. Those are the quiet things I’ve been doing without the cameras.

https://www.independent.ng/im-on-national-reconciliation-project-olawepo-hashim/amp/

For me, this is not just an ambition . It’s a national reconciliation project. It’s a project to rescue Nigeria and it is something that I have put my heart to, not just because I want to run for presidency . It’s something I have been doing for more than three decades, paying the price, taking risks. So it’s a continuation of that struggle. I’m different from those who just want to be President. It’s not about being President. It’s about how to rescue Nigeria and we must rescue Nigeria as it is now. It is not the time for small boy politics. It is time to build a broad national consensus to rescue the nation and this is what this is all about.

Before we started making all the consultations, we went to Kaduna and we met with the ACF. They said we are not endorsing anybody. Anybody that is a candidate from the North is all our candidate. You are all our candidates. That was a very good statement from the ACF. I said the North that we knew under Sardauna was the North that welcomed everybody and that was why Sir Kashim Ibrahim was elected to represent the Tiv people in the Northern Assembly. He was a Muslim, a Kanuri man and was elected by predominantly Christian society, which tells you about what the North was. We spoke and they were very happy. So, Nigeria right now does not just need a politician. Nigeria needs a statesman. Nigeria needs one who can mobilize the country for national reconciliation and development. Nigeria needs an inspirational leader that can bring the country back together again and defeat insurgency through negotiation and reconciliation. It’s not just going to be about police action. There are people who feel really bitter and they didn’t even see themselves as committing any crime. They believe that they are revenge against the Nigerian state. So, the style will be different. We are already building the national coalition and it is not a coalition of just parties who are looking to have seats in government. It’s more serious than that.

Ponder with me Nairalanders: Buharists are consistent. Some have supported PMB since 2003, some from 1984 and many from 2015. We don't waver in our support, but our opponents go flip-flop always- Saraki, Atiku, Nnamdi Kanu whom suddenly they don't like again. Come on, stay in one lane.

Going close to the elections, how much of reception have you seen so far. You’ve gone to North West, gone to North Central, the Northeast and the South West. Just recently, the AD candidate stepped down for you in the South West. How much of enthusiasm do you see?


It’s phenomenal and now that we are going to start the flag off of our rallies, you will begin to see it demonstrated beyond small meetings. There is a lot of enthusiasm, especially among the common people. Elite and middle class people are very difficult to impress because they don’t easily take risks. They are thinking about the next appointment, where it will come from and therefore they are calculating what will happen. But the common people, they are not looking for appointments, they are not going to be commissioners or Ministers. So, that calculation is not their problem. When they see something that is good, they know it and they can support it and there is a lot of buying into that. Even some of the elite people who are very difficult to convince, they are also getting scared of being irrelevant, seeing as the PT is becoming a movement that is fast developing. If you follow the conversations online and you know that platform like this is where you have a lot of ordinary people have PVC. Everybody is there. The photographer is there. Mechanics are there. Hair dressers are there. They are not like Instagram and the other ones where they are a bit more elite based.

From the look of things, this man will give Atiku and Buhari a good fight

Certainly

Your eyes will soon be cleared after the next 2 weeks

dis one don win election for social media

Nigeria needs a politician that can unite the country. The division under Buhari is too much

Na Cho



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdzqxWWSG8c

After February 16, you won't hear anything from this one again, that's if he doesn't join the winning team claiming it is in the national interest and unity of the country to do so.

How much are you giving Nairaland for us to see posts on this nobody candidate?

This is certainly not how to run a campaign. Even if you’re not going to win, at least have some media popularity. This guy is not even close to gaining any popularity.

Give your campaigns to media professionals, you won’t hear, you go and give it to Nairaland mods. You think Nairaland is that potent a platform? The fact that it is faceless alone has ruined your campaign.

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