₦airaland Forum

Olawepo-Hashim is ‘third force’ candidate

Business mogul and frontline presidential candidate Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim has consolidated his presidential bid with his emergence at the weekend as a third force presidential candidate.

The candidate is now in a prime position to challenge President Mohammadu Buhari of the All Progressive Congress (APC) and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

Olawepo-Hashim, who is running on the platform of the People’s Trust (PT), had earlier won the party’s presidential ticket, following a fusion of over 10 political parties, including the Olisa Agbakoba lead National Intervention Movement (NIM).

His name has since been submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Reliable sources have also confirmed that more parties are likely to fuss into the growing alliance, following a new zeal to join forces against the duo of Buhari and Abubakar, in what will give a lie to the impression that next year’s election is a two horse race.

The growing integration of the third force includes the majority of members of Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN), even though a fraction of the party still went ahead and presented a presidential candidate.

The Middle-Belt Forum had earlier shortlisted Olawepo-Hashim among four of its prominent indigenes as likely presidential candidates to represent the region in next year’s presidential poll

Others who had made the list were a former Minister of Information, Prof. Jerry Gana; former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank Dr. Obadiah Mailafia; and former Plateau State Governor Senator Jonah Jang, among a dozen candidates that went through the rigorous screening.

Chaired by Air Commodore Dan Suleiman, the panel reportedly shortlisted Olawepo-Hashim, the youngest among the four, for his deep knowledge of the economy arising from his successful business endeavours, spanning the breadth of oil and gas , power, communications and marketing.

The businessman’s urbane and cerebral qualities partly reflected in his feats in the University of Lagos and the Buckingham University where he was best student in his cohort, winning the MaxBerlof Award for Global Affairs were also advantages.

The first elected National Deputy Publicity Secretary of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Olawepo-Hashim, the youngest of the aspirants screened, is seen as a potential force from the Middle-Belt region, good enough to attract first-time voters on the national voter register numbering over fifteen million apart from potential voters from the region and elsewhere.

Other than this are his pro-democracy credentials beginning from his University of Lagos days and growing into his real life experiences, leading to his recognition as Amnesty International Prisoner of Conscience in 1989.

Detribalised with strong bridge-building credentials, his international exposure additionally appealed to the 18-member screening committee, spread across fourteen Middle-Belt states.

Aside Commodore Dan Suleiman, who is former military administrator and one- time Nigerian envoy to Russia, other personalities on the then screening panel included former Adjutant-General of the Nigerian Army, Major-General Zamani Lekwot, former Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen Ishaya Bamaiyi, former Governor of old Gongola State, Mr. Wilberforce Juta, former Governor of old Kwara State, Chief Cornelius Adebayo, Mr. Sam Ada Maagbe and Chief John Odakun.

http://thenationonlineng.net/olawepo-hashim-is-third-force-candidate/

hum

SolutionMee:

Which of the Kwara The one in North Central or what? Saraki himself is a ruling party in Kwara State. He only needs the likes of PDP and APC in national politics.

He will be dislodged in 2019

?

Hum

Kwara will be free in 2019, President Buhari declares
https://mrrightsng..com/2018/10/kwara-will-be-free-in-2019-president.html?m=1

President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari has assured all Kwarans that Kwara will be free in 2019 from all forms of oppression and servitude.

The president, who was represented by Sen. Abu Ibrahim made this declaration on Wednesday before the Kwara All Progressive Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Alh. Abdulrahman Abdulrazak and other Stakeholders from the state during a courtesy visit by the Kwara stakeholders to the National Committee of Buhari Support Groups (NCBSG) in Abuja.

The APC governorship candidate, Alh Abdulrahman Abdulrazak told the Abu Ibrahim led committee that Kwarans have always been ready for freedom, but the ruling government had always used state resources and federal might to suppress the people.

Abdulrahman told the committee that he hopes this time around, the federal government will be behind the people and give Kwarans all the support they need to actualize their freedom.
In his own remark, Kwara Central Senatorial candidate, Dr Oloriegbe informed the gathering that he has defeated Saraki before and he will do it again in 2019.

Dr oloriegbe said, i defeated Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki in the 2011 senatorial election, but the election was rigged by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in favor of Saraki, using the federal might. He also added that, when people outside the state now heard that Saraki has won the election, they didn’t know what has transpired behind the scene.

He therefore urged the federal government to support Kwara APC and give kwara a prime consideration to ensure their vote is not rigged this time around.

The Chairman of National Committee of Buhari Support Groups (NCBSG), Senator Abu Ibrahim assured the delegation that the federal government would ensure a free and fair election in the state. He also urged the governorship candidate to unite the opposition and ensure all stakeholders are properly carried along, while assuring Kwarans of Mr President’s support.

Earlier, the moderator of the event who is also Secretary of the committee, Otunba Biodun Ajiboye explained that before Saraki took over kwara, the state was free from oppression and he believes that after 2019, Kwara will be free again.

Others who attended the meeting include Senator Makanjuola Ajadi, Alh. Kale Belgore, Prince Fagbemi and others.

END.

Mr Rights bring you his accomplishments within 6 months period.

1. 2 April - becomes prime minister after unexpected resignation of Hailemariam Desalegn

2. 19 April - replaces the head of the police and internal security

3. May - frees thousands of political detainees, including opposition leader Andargachew Tsege

4. 5 June - lifts state of emergency two months early

5. 5 June - agrees to accept border ruling giving disputed territory to Eritrea

6. 9 July - alongside the Eritrean president declares the end of war between the two countries

7. 11 September - reopens land border with Eritrea

8. 10 October- Ordered soldiers who came to kill him to do press ups and also joined them in doing it

9. 16 October - appoints women to half of ministerial posts, appoint Aisha Mohammed as Ethiopia's first female defence minister and appoint first Minister of Peace.

10. 25 October - Sahle-Work Zewde becomes Ethiopia's first female president

10 Amazing Reforms done by Ethiopia Prime Minister in 6 months
By Mr Rights

Ethiopia Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, the youngest head of state in Africa became PM on April 2, after the resignation of former PM.

Mr Rights bring you his accomplishments within 6 months period.

https://mrrightsng..com/2018/10/10-amazing-reforms-done-by-ethiopias.html

kingkakaone:
I haven't seen his mives in PH.
Please help me know his campaign office.

Will try to get the details

hum

hum

gare:
Then he should continue on that line rather than character assisination, I don't admire the APC kind of politics, they can't even tell us what they have done in 3 years.

So he should desist from that kind of politics and sell himself

I don't understand what you mean by character assassination.

He was asked a question by the media and he responded appropriately and respectfully.

I have never seen any candidate respond to question about their opponent with such kind of respect

gare:
Leave Atiku alone and tell us why we should vote you, tells what you can do differently if not just step down nobody force you to contest

He has already demonstrated to all, how he intends to end poverty in the country, by expanding our economy from a mere $410billiin to creating a $4trillion economy.

We need to open our mind and engage constructively.

Hashim has shown enough determination and seriousness

Why Atiku Can’t Become President In 2019 – Olawepo Hashim

Ex-Vice-President Atiku Abubakar missed his chance to become president in 2007, according to the presidential aspirant of the Alliance for New Nigeria, Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim.

According to Olawepo-Hashim, Atiku, although qualified to serve as the nation’s leader, is a man of the past as Nigerians are now thinking about the future.

“By all standards, the Waziri of Adamawa is qualified to be the President of Nigeria,” he told Vanguard.

“Having been Vice President before, but the 2019 election is a different election, I think Vice President Atiku missed his chance of being president in 2007 and talking about in 2019 is like talking about the future of Nigeria and at the same time facing and reasoning backward.

“80% of Nigerians want to see a new direction, they don’t want to go backward, and Vice President Atiku Abubakar is a man of yesterday.”

On why he should become president, the former journalist said he would unite the country.

“Number one, I will be able to unite the country, I will be able to build a strong economy given my experience,” he added.

“I’m that candidate that majority of voters particularly first-time voters and who are very significant, almost about 15 million of them, who are not supporters of APC or PDP.

“And then, my friends in PDP and APC who have made up their mind that when it comes to presidential election ‘we will vote Gbenga,’ that’s an edge I have going for me. I believe, no other candidate in this election has that.”

https://www.concisenews.global/2018/10/23/why-atiku-cant-become-president-in-2019-presidential-aspirant/

Atiku Abukakar is a Man of Yesterday

QUOTE:

I have a lot of friends in PDP, I left PDP in 2006. I have a lot of friends in APC too. I funded the election of some of them into the National Assembly. I funded some people who are big people today in the APC in the past so the point is that when I’m in the ballot it’s a different matter. I’m a young man, but I’m bringing to the table something more than being a young man. I’m not against old people because they are old. Mandela was very old and advanced in age and he was a good president because he had the legacy and history that recommended him to the whole world as a leader. Trump is 70 and the economy is doing well under President Trump

Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim recently survived a plot to oust him as presidential candidate of the Alliance for New Nigeria, he emerged stronger rallying more parties to support his ambition on the platform of the People’s Trust. He told Nseobong Okon-Ekong how he hopes to upstage the front liners in the 2019 presidential race.

As a founding member and officer of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), what chance does Alhaji Atiku Abubakar stand as presidential candidate of the party?

By all standards, the Waziri of Adamawa is qualified to be the President of Nigeria, having been Vice President before. But the 2019 election is a different election. I think Vice President Atiku missed his chance of being president in 2007 and talking about it in 2019 is like talking about the future of Nigeria and at the same time facing and reasoning backwards. I think the choice before Nigerians is between a better Nigeria and the Nigeria that people like Atiku created. Eighty per cent of Nigerians want to see a new direction. They don’t want to go backward. Former Vice President Atiku Abukakar is a man of yesterday.

What competitive edge do you have over him going into this election?

I will be able to unite the country. I will be able to build a strong economy, given my experience. I’m that candidate that majority of voters, particularly, first time voters and they are very significant, almost about 15 million of them who are not supporters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) or PDP and then, there are my friends in PDP and APC who have made up their mind that when it comes to the presidential election, ‘we will vote Gbenga.’ That’s an edge I have going for me. I believe no other candidate in this election has that.

I think the Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN) as a party is not all that my political structure is about. The Gbenga Hashim organisation which is our political platform is presently in 36 states of the federation and it is bigger than the ANN. ANN comprises of the founders of the ANN and some of my supporters who agreed to migrate to that party. But the GHO is made up of my supporters and friends who are in APC, PDP, Social Democratic Party (SDP), People’s Trust (PT) and the ANN. We are going to galvanise all these forces for the next election. We have always known that we will come to this point when we started this campaign. The 2019 elections is going to be a different election. You will find some states that when it comes to the presidency, they will vote candidate A and party A. When it comes to governorship they will vote for party B so the results of the presidential election is not going to be measured by the strength of the parties as they are established right now. It’s not automatic that because someone’s in APC, he will vote Buhari. We did an opinion poll six months ago, a survey of people who actually have PVCs. In Lagos for instance, Buhari scored 5%, Atiku scored 3%, majority of the people who are both APC and PDP said they are waiting for a new candidate. The 2019 elections is a unique election. It’s not going to be that simple and this is not just a Nigerian trend. It’s a worldwide trend. In the last elections in the United States, we saw that a lot of democratic supporters, the men, for instance, migrated and voted for Trump even though they were in the Democratic Party. The level at which information travels now is so fast that there’s still a lot of time for people to make up their mind. They have just finished the primary nomination. The choices will be very clear so we still have up to five months to actual balloting. One of the things that has happened in this particular case is that we are having the primary nomination earlier than we have always had. Previously, it happened around November/December. This time around and for whatever reason, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) moved it up and I think it’s good that it’s happening soon enough and there would be adequate time for campaign. In this electronic age, information travels so fast. Four to five months is a long time, the electorate will have adequate time to get familiar with who’s running and on what platform and what issues are being canvassed. I believe we have a lot of advantage on our side and we are very optimistic about the 2019 elections.

I understand that in ANN you have an alliance with People’s Trust. What are the basic issues? What are you presenting?

The PT is a party promoted by National Intervention Movement. The discussion to have an alliance with ANN started as far back as May. It’s not a new thing. We are just consummating that and our national convention which was held in Abuja proves that, it’s not just PT. We have a number of organisations and parties that have also signed up in the alliance. The whole idea is to key in into the strategy of National Intervention Movement that was promoted for almost one year. This is not just any initiative. It’s just being consolidated and taken up with some further steps. I think the issue is to build a stronger political platform that’s also committed to the idea of national unity, economic development, security in the land and to have a Nigeria where the life of every citizen will count and no discrimination against anyone regardless of your ethnic descent and religious beliefs and a true federal system. These are some of the issues that the platform is committed to.

One would have thought that you will identify more with the civil society organisations, which has been your constituency since your days as a student union leader



I think the alliance with the NIM shows you that this is the natural platform that I belong. The leader, Mr. Olisa Agbakoba was the President of the Civil Liberty Organization while I was the National Administrative Secretary of the Committee of Defence for Human Rights. In 1990, along with other patriotic Nigerians (some are late today), we traveled the whole of northern Nigeria consistently for about three weeks in a bus to get the consensus of our people on how to end military rule. We are already working together. I quite understand that there are many civil society structures now outside these traditional structures that we have and there’s a whole historical gap between the civil society activists of the 80’s and the 90’s and some of them today. I believe that we will have a lot of buy-in as the campaign progresses. You start somewhere in order for people to get the right information that they need and then they join in the process, so it’s a developing story.

Your party did not take part in the recent governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun, how strong are other candidates in the different states?

We have very good candidates, particularly we are in the People’s Trust. One thing I can assure you is that we are fielding candidates in virtually all the constituencies and the alliance has given us the opportunity to migrate candidates from different parties in the alliance to the same single platform. Particularly, the presidential and National Assembly elections and that’s what we are going to do. Once INEC finishes with the process of nomination, their names should be published. Given our history, we are coming with a lot of experience that will offer a proper difference. We are going to be presenting people who are tested. It’s only when you are tested that you can talk about your integrity. So the kind of candidates that we are going to be parading are people who are tested, they are not just speaking empty rhetoric and this is how leaders are selected anywhere in the world. We want to ask about their history. It’s unfortunate that History has been taken out of our syllabus of our schools by people who want to hold Nigeria down. Unfortunately, when the military decided to amend the curriculum, it produced a generation of people who don’t have historical consciousness. We have to fill in the void and I think that’s going to be one of the first job we are going to do once we are elected as president. We need to restore content in the Nigerian educational system because the education curriculum that we have doesn’t support patriotism. If you don’t have historical consciousness, you can’t be patriotic. A lot of young people think that Nigeria has always been a mess like this. They don’t know that there were people who stood for integrity. Aminu Kano died without having a house, some of the young people don’t even know. They just think looting and stealing is what Nigeria has always been. It has not always been like that. A lot of people don’t know it’s not Buhari that started anti-corruption campaign in Nigeria. In the 1966 coup, people were killed because over accusation of corruption, yet corruption still didn’t stop in Nigeria. Buhari isn’t the first person that started anti-corruption campaign, a lot of people don’t know that, they don’t know that there are people who have more integrity than people that they are looking at. There’s a sense of void that helps charlatans to get public attention. We need to put a proper education in place that will restore the historical consciousness of young Nigerians. The problem of education is not just about not having enough money or infrastructure, our parents went to school where they trekked many kilometers before they got to school. Some of the school structures were mud houses but what’s important was the content, more than infrastructure. I once listened to a National Universities Commission (NUC) official and he gave some statistics stating that based on the capital and current budgetary allocation to tertiary institutions, that they spend more than N1 million on each student in the university. I know private universities that pay as average as N500,000. If in public schools, the federal government spends up to N1 million on these children, it means that they are spending probably more than the average private school. The issue is more than just allocating more money. You have to look at the content and how the funds are administered to understand the management of the system. It’s this comprehensive programme of reforming the educational system that we are going to be looking at.

What kind of working relationship do you have with the PT?

I think the people’s Trust and ANN alliance is with an intention for a merger and that is on the cards, but because election is here, we have to participate in the election first. With mergers you have to talk about new constitutions and so on. We have already notified INEC as to what we intend to do. After the election, we will see the merger of a number of the existing parties with the initiatives that we are having and that’s where we are going. As I said to you, our organisation which is the campaign platform, the Gbenga Hashim Organization has members of PDP, APC, SDP and various parties so these people are going to vote for us in the presidential election.

In what area of the polity would you make an urgent intervention if elected president?

My priority is to expand the GDP of Nigeria because this is the most important issue. The economy is too small for 180 million people. If you consider that even in 2013, when Nigeria made a lot of money from oil sales, the country made less than USD50 billion in total revenue, that same year Disney World a private company that markets entertainment in Florida made USD47 billion. For 180 million people, that revenue base is too small and its GDP of USD510 billion even though it was celebrated as being the biggest in Africa as at 2013, equals to poverty and that’s why you see that almost 2/3rd of the country’s population still live below USD2 per day. That’s why you see that the life expectancy rate in Nigeria is 53 years, whereas in Liberia that experienced civil war and Ebola on a mass scale, the life expectancy rate is 61 years and Sudan is 63 years. We need to build a bigger economy and the New Economic Development Programme (NEDP) which we have put in place will move Nigeria from USD410 billion to USD4 trillion in 10 years and that will bring our average per capita income to be at par with countries like Malaysia and Thailand. We are not talking about comparing ourselves with the United States or Germany. We not are talking about building a comparable economic base. There is so nothing extraordinary about reaching USD4 trillion GDP in 10 years for a country of 180 million people.

If it boils down to choice, who’s the better evil better Buhari and Atiku?



Let me be clear, the next election will not be a bet between two evils. We have passed that stage in 2015 where Nigerians where forced to make that choice. In 2015, I heard some people saying, ‘I just want Jonathan to go. But can you honestly say that Nigeria is better now than 2015 in all the indices. Even then the results in 2015 was not anything good but that was a referendum about Jonathan. Now Nigerians have four months to make up their mind to choose between evil and good; not to make a choice between the lesser and best evil. That’s the choice before Nigeria: To vote for me as President, not to make a choice between two evils. There’s a clear choice and that choice is between the future of Nigeria, a different Nigeria, a modern Nigeria, an economically prosperous Nigeria, a united Nigeria, a secure Nigeria where the life of every citizen will count regardless of their ethnicity and religion, that’s the choice Nigerians have to make and not to manage.

Are you comfortable with the fact that these two major parties have old men in their 70s as their presidential candidates, will this help you pluck votes from the younger generation?

The two major political parties have their own problems that’s perhaps why somebody like me didn’t run on their platform. I have a lot of friends in PDP, I left PDP in 2006. I have a lot of friends in APC too. I funded the election of some of them into the National Assembly. I funded some people who are big people today in the APC in the past so the point is that when I’m in the ballot it’s a different matter. I’m a young man, but I’m bringing to the table something more than being a young man. I’m not against old people because they are old. Mandela was very old and advanced in age and he was a good president because he had the legacy and history that recommended him to the whole world as a leader. Trump is 70 and the economy is doing well under President Trump even though you don’t like him, the economy of America is growing. So I’m not against anyone because you are young or old, and I’m not marketing myself as a young candidate. That’s not my selling point. The most important thing is the history, experience, competence that I bring to the table so it’s not just a question of young versus old. You are not breaking any record by being young. We need young people but young people with content, history and experience. There’s some kind of skill set that’s necessary and I take exception to people who don’t want to have any kind of experience, they just want to start from the top. You don’t want to be a councilor or council chairman, but your first time in politics is to become President. Even if you are coming from a business background, you have led corporations and which exposes you to some level of politics and that gives you some experience to be president of a country, but you don’t have any such history, you have never been a student union leader, trade union leader, even if its chairman of road transport workers union, that’s some politics, that gives you some experience. I’m not just saying any young man. I’m not against old people, as long you are competent and have something to offer we will take you for who you are. I will like to encourage a lot of young people, but I also want people to have the required skill set to do the job well. One of the difference between me and other people is that I started very early. There’s nothing to come up as a young leader, there’s nothing about it as long as you have prerequisite training and there’s no job in this world without a skill set if you want to do well in that job.

What are the facts about the recent crisis that rocked the ANN?



Once a party starts becoming relevant. You will have lots of internal contestations. Sometimes people sponsor from outside because they don’t want a formidable challenger competing with them and that was the case with ANN. There were attempts to have one convention where a candidate was supposed to have been produced with delegates from six states out of 26 states, where the ANN is presently constituted but at the end of the day the NEC took the appropriate decision to annul that and those who tried to do that have been punished according to the party’s constitution. At the convention of the party where we had about 20 states in attendance out of the 26 states, I was elected presidential candidate, a decision was also taken to fast track the alliance discussion with other political parties like PT, which also adopted me as their presidential candidate. We have about 10 political parties also coming to the alliance and I will be running as the flag bearer of the entire alliance of these political parties. For different reasons some of our supporters ended up in different political parties, some in the SDP, some will say, ‘the time is too short we are in PDP and we already have a governorship candidate that has been campaigning, we will vote for our governor and vote for you in the presidential election.’ The GHO is the big machine plus the alliance platform for the 2019 election. We are in a unique circumstance, even these two big parties that you are talking about- the APC virtually in every state had factional congresses. What you are talking about isn’t unique to ANN. This is expected. For us, the GHO and the alliance platform is a big platform that will be able to compete with APC.

The crisis in ANN came from the APC. Some powerful elements in the APC who have presidential vision and who think that the APC platform may not be available for them post 2019 elections want to use the ANN as a parchment for their interest. One of their plans was to make sure that ANN didn’t have any nomination at all for any office, that was defeated by our members who have been patriotic and then the second attempt was this last sponsored crisis, but that’s politics.

Are you ready for the presidential debate?

I’m look forward to the presidential debate with President Buhari and others who are presidential candidates of their various parties.

There are insinuations that Buhari will be sending Vice President Osinbajo to debate on his behalf?

I won’t debate with Osinbajo because he’s not the presidential candidate. Osinbajo will debate with my running mate.

https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2018/10/25/236825/

tamonokare:
Any Nigerian politician who is not in A PC or PDP is half serious about his aspirations.

This is not true. In truth, any Nigerian who is planning to vote for PDP or APC is not serious about having a better country.

Hashim has obviously presented a credible alternative, let's give him a chance

kingkakaone:
As in ehn...The issue is just tiring.
Imagine youths shouting, Atikulated and Sai baba up and down the forum.

But the truth is that I don't know this GOH of a guy o. I've never heard of the party in PH here or his name self, only on nairaland.

GOH has been doing alot at the grass root level. He has also presented a very good idea for development. His idea of expanding our economy to $4trillion is even so amazing.

We need to give Hashim a chance really

eneyoduke:
Atiku the devil we know is better than the angel your claiming

Yes, we know the devil and it is evil.

Why not go for something better than the devil you already know is bad?

Go for Hashim, this is a better option

Gohashim2019

2019: Fela Durotoye a mole planted by presidency to destroy ANN, suck youth votes – National Chairman

The National Chairman of the Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN), Dr. Jay Osi Samuels, has accused a chieftain and factional presidential candidate of the party, Mr. Fela Durotoye, of being a mole.


He made the allegation during an interview with DAILY POST in Abuja on the crisis that had engulfed the 10-month-old party regarded by pundits as an assembly of technocrats.

Samuels said he had proof that Durotoye was being sponsored by some powerful individuals in the Presidency and a popular Pentecostal church to destroy the party.


He alleged that the presidency was not scared of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar but the youths.

He claimed that the direction the block votes of the youths would go in 2019 was a source of worry to the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, and the presidency, hence, their moves to sponsor Durotoye, who is considered a popular personality among young Nigerians, to suck and divert the votes from that demography.

Recall that Durotoye emerged a factional presidential candidate from a parallel convention conducted by the expelled former chairman of the party, Mr. Emmanuel Dania.


However, that convention was marred by issues, notably, the absence of a quorum with only seven states in attendance whereas the party has presence in 28 states.

By the regulations of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, a valid convention should have had at least 19 states.

According to Samuels, the way the convention was organised led to a suspicion about a hidden agenda.

He said: “The greatest fear that this government s, is the fear of the youths. It is not afraid of regular politicians.

“They don’t want the youths to come together in one single party. There are two things happening here, one is the ANN matter the other one is the general strategy of this government.

“They encouraged formation of so many of these parties to suck the votes of the youths so that the youths will not come in with one voice, in one platform against them.

“Durotoye is a tool of this government to suck the votes of the youths. That’s why we will not allow him and that’s why they were hell bent on doing that convention they did for him to emerge because they were on assignment they had to deliver.

“But where we are now, we are taking our party back because Emmanuel Dania has been expelled.

“INEC has recognized our convention as the right convention. There are so many sub plots but the grand design was that Durotoye would emerge.

“There were calls from the presidency to some of our people. Some were visited with money. Their message was ‘Let Durotoye win. He is our boy. Let him win. We will handle the rest.'”

Asked to publish evidence of the shady dealings between the Presidency and Durotoye, the ANN chairman said: “I will do so in the course of time, For now, it is enough for the public to be aware tat we have recorded private conversations that back up our claims.”

Speaking also, the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Akin Oyebanji, said Durotoye’s emergence could not stand any legal scrutiny.

“It is indeed surprising and strange that Durotoye and Dania are suddenly best of friends when the former had earlier walked out on the August 10 national convention which produced the latter as then National Chairman,” he said.

A close ally of Durotoye, who spoke to DAILY POST under condition of anonymity, said he was unaware of any shady arrangement between the Presidency, the Pentecostal church in question, and Mr. Durotoye.

However, he added that “It would be disappointing and surprising to us, if Fela is telling us one thing and doing another.”

“I am just hearing this allegation for the first time. But, if it turns out to be true, the lesson for us all is that politics is indeed a game of ‘all man for himself’ and nothing else,” the source said.

http://dailypost.ng/2018/10/17/2019-fela-durotoye-mole-planted-presidency-destroy-ann-suck-youth-votes-national-chairman-samuels/

2019 election will not be a bet between two devils, says Olawepo

Gbenga Hashim Olawepo is the presidential candidate of Alliance for New Nigeria and Peoples Trust.

In this interview with LEO SOBECHI, he examines the crucial issues about next year’s election, stressing that the choice before Nigerians would be for a prosperous future

With an incumbent and former vice president in the presidential race, do you think you have a chance in the forthcoming presidential election?

Firstly, I would be able to unite the country, build a strong economy given my experience and I am that candidate that majority of voters, particularly first time voters, who are very significant, almost about 15 million of them, will vote for.

They are not supporters of APC or PDP. And then my friends in PDP and APC, who have made up their minds that when it comes to presidential election, they would vote Gbenga, that’s the edge I have going for me. I believe no other candidate in this election has that.

By all standards Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Waziri of Adamawa, is qualified to be the President of Nigeria, having been Vice President before, but the 2019 election is a different election. I think vice president Atiku missed his chance of being president in 2007 and talking about 2019 is like talking about the future of Nigeria and at the same time facing and reasoning backwards.

I think the choice before Nigerians is between Nigeria and the whole Nigerians. A better Nigeria and the Nigeria that people like Atiku created before and most electorates from the polling that we have seen already are not talking about the maps that are been call up by some newspapers, I mean the pollings by those who have PVCs and want to vote. Eighty per centof Nigerians want see a new direction; they don’t want to go backward and Abukakar is a man of yesterday. I think ANN as a party is not all that my political structure is all about.

The Gbenga Hashim Organization, which is our political platform, presently in 36 states of the federation, is bigger than the ANN. ANN comprises of the fathers of ANN and some of my supporters who agreed to migrate to that party, but the GHO is made up of my supporters and friends who are in APC, PDP, SDP, PT and ANN and it is all these forces that we are going to be galvanizing for the next election and we have always known that we will come to this point when we started this campaign.

2019 elections is going to be a different election. You will find that some states when it comes to the presidency, they will vote candidate A and party A, when it comes to governorship, they will vote for party B so the results of the presidential election is not going to be measured by the strengths of the parties as they are established right now and because it’s not automatic that, because someone’s in APC he will vote Buhari.

We did an opinion poll six months ago, a survey of people who actually have PVCs. In Lagos for instance, Buhari scored 5 per cent, Atiku scored 3 per cent. Majority of the people who are both APC and PDP said they are waiting for a new candidate. The 2019 elections is a unique election; it’s not going to be that simple and this is not just a Nigerian trend, it’s a worldwide trend.

They have just finished the primary nomination.

The choices will be very clear so we still have up to five months to actual balloting. One of the things that have happened in this particular case is that we are having the primary nomination earlier than we have always had. Previously, it happens around November and December but this time around and for whatever reason, INEC moved it up and I think it’s good that it is happening soon enough and there would be adequate time for campaign.

So on this electronic age that we are now information travels so fast, four to five months is a long time. The electorate will have adequate time to get familiar with who’s running and on what platform are they running for and what issues. I believe we have a lot of advantage on our side and we are very optimistic about the 2019 elections.

Based on the alliance or electoral understanding between ANN and Peoples Trust, what essential issues are you canvassing for national development?

Well, the alliance with the People’s Trust, is a party promoted by National Intervention Movement and the discussion to have an alliance with ANN started as far back as May. It’s not a new thing, we are just consummating that and our national convention, which was held in Abuja, proved that. It’s not just Peoples Trust; we have a number of organizations and parties that have also signed up in the alliance.

The whole idea is to key into the strategy of National Intervention Movement that we promoted for almost one year running now. So this is not just any initiative, it’s just being consolidated and taken some further steps. I think the issue is to build a stronger political platform that’s also committed to the idea of national unity, economic development, security in the land and to have a Nigeria where the life of every citizen will count and no discrimination against anyone regardless of your ethnic decent and religious beliefs and a true federal system. These are some of the issues that the platform is committed to.

I think the alliance with the National Intervention Movement shows you that this is the natural platform that I belong to. The leader was the president of the Civil Liberty Organization, while I was the national administrative secretary of the Committee for the Defense of Human Rights.

In 1990 with me and some other patriotic Nigerians (some are late today), we traveled the whole of northern Nigeria consistently for about three weeks in a bus to get the consensus of our people on how to end military rule. So, we are already working together. I quite understand that there are many civil societies’ structures now outside these traditional structures that we have and there’s a whole historical gap between the civil society activists of the 80’s and the 90’s and some of them are here today.

So I believe that we will have a lot of buying in as the campaign progresses. You start somewhere and people get the right information that they need and they join in the process; so it’s a developing story.

We have very good candidates, particularly we are in the people’s trust alliance one thing I can assure you is that we are fielding candidates in virtually all the constituencies and that the alliance has given us the opportunity to migrate candidate from different parties who are in their alliance to the same single platform. Particularly the presidential and National Assembly elections and that’s what we are going to do once INEC finishes with the process of nomination and names published.

One thing we want to assure Nigerians is that given our history, we are coming with a lot of experience that will make a proper difference. We are going to present people who are tested. It’s only when you are tested that you can talk about your integrity. So the kind of candidates that we are going to parade are people who are tested; they are not just speaking empty rhetoric and this is how leaders are selected anywhere in the world for countries that are serious.

We want to ask about their history and so on. It’s unfortunate that people, who want to hold Nigeria down, have taken history out of our syllabus.

Unfortunately, when the military decided to amend the curriculum, it produced a generation of people who don’t have historical consciousness. We have to fill in the void and I think that’s going to be one of the first jobs we are going to do once I’m elected president. We need to restore content in the Nigerian educational system because the education curriculum that we have now doesn’t support patriotism; if you don’t have a historical consciousness you can’t be patriotic.

A lot of young people think that Nigeria has always been a mess like this. No it has not always been a mess like this; there are people who stood for integrity. Aminu Kano died without having a house; some of the young people don’t even know; they just think looting and stealing is what Nigeria has always been; it has not always been like that.

A lot of people don’t know that it’s not Buhari who started anti-corruption campaign; in Nigeria. In 1966 coup, people were killed because they were accused of corruption and corruption still didn’t stop in Nigeria. So Buhari isn’t the first person who started anti-corruption campaign; a lot of people don’t know that; they don’t know that there are people who have more integrity than people that they are looking at.

So there’s a sense of void that helps charlatans to get public attention; so we need to put a proper education in place that will restore the historical consciousness of young Nigerians.

The problem of education is not just about having enough money or infrastructure. Our parents went to school where they trekked many kilometers before they got to school with some as mud houses but what’s important was the content, more than infrastructure. I once listened to an NUC official they spend more than one million naira on each student in the university.

I know private universities that pay as much as 500 thousand naira. So if in public schools the Federal Government spends up to one million on these children, it means that they are spending probably more than the average private school. So the issue is more than just allocating more money, you have to look at the content and how the funds are even administered. It’s this comprehensive programme of reforming education that we are going to be looking at. I think the people’s trust ANN alliance is with an intention for a merger and that is on the cards, but because election is here, we have to do election first. With mergers you have to talk about new constitutions and so on. We have already notified INEC as to what we intend to do and what we are doing.

Outside the election, we will see a merger of the number of the existing parties with the initiative that we have and that’s where we are going. As I said to you, our organisation, which is the campaign platform, the Gbenga Hashim Organization, has members of PDP, APC, SDP and various parties so these people are going to vote for us in the presidential election.

Again and most importantly for me, my priority is to expand the GDP of Nigeria because this is the most important issue and the economy is too small for 180 million people. If you consider that even in 2013, when Nigeria made a lot of money from oil sales, the country made less than $50billion in total revenue. That same year, Disney World, a private company that markets entertainment in Florida, made $47billion.

So for 180 million people that revenue base is to small and its GDP of 510 billion even though Nigerians celebrated as the biggest in Africa as at 2013. That’s why you see that almost 2/3rd of the country’s population still live below two dollars a day, and that’s why you see that the life expectancy rate in Nigeria is 53 years, whereas in Liberia that experienced a civil war and Ebola on a large scale, their life expectancy rate is 61; Sudan is 63.

We need to build a bigger economy and the new economic development programme (NEP) which we have put in place will move Nigeria from 410 billion US dollars to 4 trillion dollars in 10 years and that will bring our average per capita income to be at par with countries like Malaysia, Thailand. We are not talking about comparing us to the United States or Germany; we are talking about building a comparable economic base; so, nothing extraordinary for $4 trillion GDP in 10 years for a country of 180 million people.

Which would you consider the better devil?

Let me be clear, the next election will not be a bet between two Devils, we have passed that stage in 2015 where Nigerians where forced to make that choice. In 2015 I heard some people saying they just wanted Jonathan to go, but can you honestly say that Nigeria is better now than 2015 in all the indices? Even then the results in 2015 as I said is not anything good, but that was a referendum about Jonathan, now Nigerians have four months to make up their mind to choose between evil and good not to make between the lesser and best evil and that’s the choice before Nigeria to vote for me as President, not to make a choice between two evils. There’s a clear choice and that choice is between the future of Nigeria, a different Nigeria, a modern Nigeria, an economically prosperous Nigeria, a United Nigeria, a secured Nigeria where the life of every citizen will count regardless of their ethnicity and religion, that’s the choice Nigerian have to make and not to manage.

Among the two major parties, those you expect to vote for you constitute the primary elections that are throwing up old men in their 70’s as their presidential candidates, what can you say about that?

You see the two major political parties have their own problems that’s is perhaps why somebody like me didn’t run under them, I have a lot of friends in PDP, I left PDP in 2006. I have a lot of friends in APC too. And some of them in APC I funded their elections in the National Assembly, I funded some people who are big people today in the APC in the past so the point is that when I’m in the ballot it’s a different matter. I’m a young man but I’m bringing to the table something more than being a young man, I’m not against old people because they are old, that’s not the narrative here. Mandela was very old and advanced in age and he was a good president because he had the legacy and history that recommended him to the whole world as a leader.

Trump is 70 and the economy is doing well under President Trump even though you don’t like him, the economy of America is growing. So I’m not against anyone because you are young or old, and I’m not marketing myself as a young candidate, that’s not my selling point. The most important thing is the history, experience, competence that I bring to the table so it’s not just a question of young versus old.

You are not breaking any record by being young; yes we need young people but young people with content, history, and experience. There’s some kind of skill set that’s necessary and I take exception to people who don’t want to have any kind of experience, they just want to start from the top, you don’t want to be councilor, chairman but your first sting in politics is to become president.

Even if you are coming from a business background, you have led corporations and which expose you to some level of politics and that give you some experience to be president of a country, but you don’t have any such history and you have never been a student union leader, trade union leader, even if its chairman of road transport workers union, that’s some politics that gives you some experience so I’m not just saying any young man, I’m not against old people as long you are competent and have something to offer we will take you for who you are.

I will like to encourage a lot of young people but I also want you people to have the required skill set to do the job well. One of the difference between me and other people is that I started very early. There’s nothing to come up as a young leader; there’s nothing about it as long as have prerequisite training and there’s no job in this world without a skill set if you want to do properly well in that job.

Well, you know once a party starts becoming relevant, then you will have lots of internal contestations.

Sometimes people sponsor from outside because they don’t want a formidable challengers competing with them and that was the case with ANN and there were attempt to have one convention where a candidate was supposed to have been produced with delegates from six states out of 26 states where ANN is presently constituted but at the end of the day the NEC took the appropriate decision to annul that and those who tried to do that have been punished according to the party constitution and at the convention of the party where we had about 20 states in attendance out of the 26 states where I was elected presidential candidate.

A decision was also taken to fast track the alliance discussion with other political parties like PT also adopted me as their presidential candidate, now we have about 10 political parties also coming to the alliance and I will be running as the flag bearer of the entire alliance of the political parties. For different reasons some of our supporters ended up in different political parties, some in SDP.

https://m.guardian.ng/politics/2019-election-will-not-be-a-bet-between-two-devils-says-olawepo/

Lol

Results

Below is a table of the result of the elections:

ALL PROGRESSIVES CONGRESS 2018
SENATORIAL PRIMARY ELECTION RESULT SHEET SUMMARY

BAUCHI NORTH

LGA: ITAS/GADAU
S/N NAME OF CANDIDATE VOTES SCORED
1. ADAMU MOHD BULKACHUWA 6,085
2. AGAJI UDUBO 1,054
3. USMAN ABUBAKAR TUGGA 14,089
4. ABDULKADIR ADAMU ISAWA 1,603
5. DR. WAZIRI DOGO 1,073

LGA: GAMAWA
1.ABDULKADIR ADAMU ISAWA 314
2.MAGAJI DUWA 3,438
3.DR. WAZIRI DOGA 342
4.ALH. ADAMU BULKACHUWA 234
5. USMAN ABUBAKAR TUGGA 20,096

LGA: ZAKI
1. DR. ABUBAKAR ADAMU ISAWA 331
2.ALH. ADAMU MUHAMMAD BULKACHUWA804
3.USMAN ABUBAKAR TUGGA 12,280
4. MAGAJI MUHAMMAD UDUBO 318
5.DR. WAZIRI DOGO MUHAMMED 339

LGA: JAMA’ARE
1. DR. WAZIRI DOGO M. 803
2.ALH. USMAN TUGGA 948
3. MAGAJI MUHAMMAD D. 643
4.ALH. AM BULKACHUWA 388
5. DR. ABDULKADIR ISAWA 498

LGA: GIADE
1.ADAMU BULKACHUWA 1,539
2.ABDULKADIR ADAMU 4,201
3. USMAN ABUBAKAR T. 5,878
4.DR. WAZIRI DOGO 569
5.MAGAJI UDUBO 169

LGA: SHIRA
1.USMAN ABUBAKAR TUGGA 11,739
2.ADAMU MUHAMMED BULKACHUWA 367
3. ALH. ABDUKADIR ISAWA 367
4.DR. WAZIRI DOGO 307
5.MAGAJI MOHAMMED DUWA 211
6.ADEBO GWONI 257

LGA: KATAGUM
1. ADAMU BULKACHUWA 7,263
2.DR. ABDULKADIR A. ISAWA 473
3.DR. BELLO WAZIRI 200
4.ALH. USMAN TUGGA 6,278
5.ALH. MAGAJI DUWA 369

A brief investigation shows that, the person Adamu Moh'd. Bulkachuwa who was fraudulently announced as candidate of APC for Bauchi North senatorial district is the husband of Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, President of Nigeria’s Court of Appeal.

Many believed that the decision of APC to illegally hand over Bauchi North senatorial ticket to Bulkachuwa after obviously losing the election is to compensate Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa for the job she may be expected to do for the APC after the 2019 general election. This is said to be very important because her son, had also contested and lost the APC ticket in Gombe state.

A lot of people have been asking, why is APC bent on killing APC in Bauchi State and other parts of the country? This is so because, apart from the fact that the legitimate winner was substituted for no justifiable reason, the man who was given the ticket is very unpopular and allowing such an unpopular candidate fly the party’s ticket only means that the party is deliberately shooting itself in the foot and unless the APC plans to rig the 2019 election, there is absolutely no way Adamu could win an election in Bauchi North.

A close associate of the Governor in the state also confided that the injustice done to Tuggar amounts to interference by those who know nothing about the implication of their action. He explained further that it is politically wrong because Usman Abubakar Tuggar’s candidacy stand to balance the political power distribution in the state. He is from Gamawa LGA being one of the 7 LGAs within Bauchi North Senatorial Zone and Gamawa has the 2nd largest vote in Bauchi State, yet without any top political appointee. The Minister, Deputy Governor and now Senator are all from Azare Katagum Local Government.

The nomination of Usman Abubakar Tugga is also case of history repeating itself, because in 2011, he was also nominated as the candidate under CPC!

Usman Abubakar Tugga who has lived and given his valuable assets and time building APC alongside the President Buhari from all the historic political platforms and ideology, he sees no reason that he will be the victim of injustice. As such, he is demanding justice and the mandate given to him by the people. He wants the APC national leadership to quickly look into the matter and return his stolen mandate to him

APC broad daylight robbery against Usman Tuggar in Bauchi state

https://mrrightsng..com/2018/10/apc-broad-daylight-robbery-against.html?m=1

Citizens Action To Take Back Nigeria (CATBAN) has released a report on the broad daylight robbery of All Progressive Congress (APC) in Bauchi State. Mr Rights present the full report

THE CASE OF USMAN ABUBAKAR TUGGA: POLITICAL & ELECTORAL CORRUPT PRACTICES PERPETRATED BY APC. – Political Corruption report by Media Unit of CATBAN

With the avalanche of crisis rocking the APC across multiple states, one may be forced to ask if truly APC was ready for the conduct of the 2019 elections or the late coming in of Adams Oshiomhole into office as National Chairman of the ruling party may be part of the reasons behind the brewing and stubborn crisis!

It all started from the drama that took place in the party’s National Convention at Abuja. We saw how Governors were shielding top members the chance to participate in the process of electing the National Officials.

Observers are tracing the origin of the crisis in APC from the issues that soiled the working relationship between the Legislators in the National Assembly and the Executives. The offshoot of the feud between National Assembly and the Executives resulted to massive interparty exodus of members. The next crisis that send wrong signals on the ugly things to come was choice of method of the primary elections, direct or indirect.


This almost divided the party into two camps across the states. Again, high cost of nomination forms was another ugly development that chopped up part of APC popularity among the Nigerian masses. As if all these were not enough for the APC to have a rethink, Tinubu and his Lagos APC launched their own brand of anti internal party democracy by way of scheming out the sitting Governor Ambode whom Lagos people believed have done impressively well.

The reports of primary elections with regards to use of money in most states that conducted the primary election via indirect method was also a thing of concern. The worst of the crisis is the recent development where results were being changed, contestants that won were being replaced openly by those that failed woefully. This development is one reason that is slowing down the process of submission of names of party candidates to INEC and for sure, INEC is hitting hard on all political parties.

In a recent report compiled by Premium Times, the INEC was quoted laying emphasis thus:
“The last day for submission of lists of sponsored candidates (Form CFOO2) and personal particulars (Form CF001) remains October 18 for Presidential and National Assembly and November 2 for Governorship and State Houses of Assembly,” the commission said.

“As at Tuesday night, according to the INEC chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, only eight of Nigeria’s 91 political parties have submitted the names of their candidates.
The APC, Nigeria’s governing party, is one of the parties troubled with submission of candidates lists largely due to crises in primaries conducted in some states.
Hours to the deadline, party faithful in Adamawa, Zamfara, Delta and Kaduna among others are not sure who their candidates will be for certain positions.”

APC members in most states have taken to the streets to protest on the manner of injustices going on in the handling of compilation of the party primary results. Many of those that spoke to the media have lamented over the broad daylight robbery of results of winners and announcement of the wrong persons.

Contestants are out there on the different media platforms crying against what the Party and INEC officials are doing to them. Almost all the APC states are having similar complaints.

In Bauchi State, on the 3rd October 2018, when the primary election was conducted and all party members were given the opportunity to exercise their franchise, the excitement was seen in the eyes of many, as they freely elected their preferred candidates across all positions.

In Bauchi North senatorial district, Usman A Tuggar who won 7 out of the 8 local governments in the senatorial to emerge victorious, as he was seen breaming with smiles, as he greeted supporters around in excitement. However, little did he know that what the people and party members freely gave him through votes would be snatched away from him through the back door.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) who also witnessed the process saw this very clearly, but surprisingly, when the winner was eventually announced by the National Working Committee (NWC) of APC, the name of another aspirant, Adamu Mohammed Bulkachuwa, who merely won one local government was announced as the candidate and as a result of this development, Bauchi North Senatorial district has been thrown into mourning and confusion.

Usman Abubakar Tugga, a younger brother to the Nigerian Ambassador to Germany has been in the progressive camp of President Muhammadu Buhari since 2006, first in ANPP, then to CPC and now APC.

In a letter to APC National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomole on 9th October 2018, Usman who attached copies of the election result demand justice from the party. ‘’I demand that justice be done, as I believe this is what our movement stands for’’ he said.

Kingspin:
My friend tell us what you will do if you elected and stop making yourself a sell-out

He has told you he his creating a $4trillion economy for Nigeria

on4a:
Thanks for sharing this. This Olawepo-Hashim's fraud knows no bounds. How wicked can people be? Why is he allowing himself to be used by the APC? #IstandWithFD2019. A new Nigeria can be reborn

So, PDP is not using him again, it is now APC? Una sickness serious

safarigirl:
Who is this snail that wants to make himself relevant when we are talking about lions in the jungle?

If Buhari can be President after trying and failing three times, there is no reason why Atiku cannot be President after missing out in 2007


Olawepo-Hashim is obviously a noise maker and needs to go back to whatever day job he had before he started understudying Fayose and FFK. This work is not for him

ANN in which Hashim is the presidential candidate is the Lion, ATiku is a puppy.

This is a time for New Nigeria

solutionist:
We need new and vibrant politicians like him. However, I think it will be better for him in his campaign to focus more on what he plans to do to move Nigeria forward, rather than personal attacks on his co-contenders.

He seem to be making news these days more for criticizing his co-candidates.

He seems to be the only one who has clearly articulated how to resolve Nigeria's economic challenges with his N4trillion economy agenda. Although, it is inevitable for journalist to ask you about your contenders in an election and anything you say may seem like an attack, but obviously, Hashim has been more focused on issues than personality.

His presentation across institutions have clearly shown that he his a man with clear understanding of the issues and fortunately, he also has the competence to get things fixed.