₦airaland Forum

ANN is the alternative indeed

lol

MIKOLOWISKA:
you're arguing with Ibo man. All sentiment no sense

We don't have to be abusive to engage each other. We can educate each other and improve ourselves. This is the spirit of a new Nigeria.

hum

I do not understand you at all.

You are happy a kenya is elected in America. You are happy an Igbo is elected in Lagos.

But an Igala man can't be elected in Enugu?

JobmanNwapdp:
So which party is the living party, is it your party Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN)? its like your malaria is getting worst on daily basis, stop dreaming... just wake and talk your drugs and don't forget....... donnot miss the medical prescription because it effects you real bad... making you to talk rubbish.


In this interview, Mr. Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim who was at some time the Deputy Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) but now a chieftain and presidential hopeful of the Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN) said both the PDP and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) have failed Nigeria and that his new platform has what it takes to bring the country out of the woods. Niyi Bello, Abuja Bureau Chief, reports.

PDP and APC are almost dead horses
The two parties are on their way to death already. They are bleeding very horribly. One thing that is interesting is that you have almost 10 million voters who are going to be voting for the first time in Nigeria. Most of them are not followers of these two horses you are talking about. In fact, they are the crop of people who ordinarily were not showing interest in politics, who are incensed by the shenanigans of those two major parties, that they don’t want to vote for either of these parties. These are the first line of support for the ANN. In a three-way race, if you start with 70 percent of that vote, you are already halfway through and you can do your research.

These ones are unlikely to vote for PDP or APC. So, that is the starting point. Then you have a number of patriotic people even in the APC and PDP who have been trapped in that politics and these people have been given the impression that it’s either this one or that one. But the ANN is offering a ray of hope that captures their imagination. They are already leaving the two parties in droves. Ordinarily, a lot of Nigerians are forward looking and they are really yearning for a new Nigeria, a new polity. You can also do your independent findings. If you try to find out who these people are likely to vote for, you will see that majority of electorates, apart from those who make a living of politics, are not interested in APC or PDP.


The difference in the ANN
Number one, you will see that majority of the people in ANN are people who have something they are doing with their hands. They are not professional politicians who live on politics. The party believes in productive engagement. That is number one and consequently, the focus of the party is not to distribute handouts, but to make sure that we have sustainable employment that is tied to industry, that is tied to manufacturing. Job is central to that. Creative people who are utilizing their creative energy to make value for society is central to that. These are the kinds of people you want to encourage in politics. They are the kinds of people you want to use your political platform to empower.

Then we want a Nigeria that is not going to be driven on the basis of ethnicity or religious bigotry. We want a Nigeria where merit will determine a lot of things that will drive the values that society runs on. These are things that are quite different. That’s not what you see in the two biggest parties in Nigeria. Anytime they are talking, it’s about zoning; it’s about whether the President is going to be from the South or from the East and all that. That is the conversation all the time. There is no serious focus on how do we grow infrastructure.

There is no conversation on how do we create jobs. There is no conversation on how do we expand the GDP and the economy. That’s not the conversation. Their conversation is who is leaving the PDP tomorrow for APC; what is the next permutation. That is all the conversation and that is nonsense, bunkum. Nigeria’s conversation about politics should be about jobs, about economy and that is when people cannot escape responsibilities. But when you make the conversation all about religion and all that, these are inanities and lot of people can run away with a lot of things. It’s that conversation that has fouled the atmosphere so much now and you see criminals who should be in jail will escape with the loot because when you want to arrest them, they will say I’m from this corner or that corner. Then people from their village will go and make a public display that they are persecuting our son because the whole conversation is about ethnicity. So, it makes nonsense of anti-corruption. It makes nonsense of failure in governance. But when you elevate the issues, then people cannot hide and escape the consequences of their criminal actions.

On changing state of origin
That’s the Nigeria I want. That’s the Nigeria the Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN) wants. I‘ve lived in Abuja at least for a while, doing business for more than twenty something years. So, you shouldn’t have a problem with Mrs. Clinton doing politics and then going back to New York to contest for Senate, or in Nigeria, (Governor Rauf) Aregbesola moving from Lagos. So, this is not the first time we are having this type of thing. The country we want to build is the country where your regional descent should not define you politically. In my case, of course, I have heritage in about three states and apart from that, I have lived abroad for about 10 years of my life. So, I’m completely a cosmopolitan person and we have a lot of Nigerians having dual citizenship. I don’t have dual citizenship. I have only the Nigerian passport. I’ve had the opportunity of taking citizenship of other countries but I had never done that. What I’m saying is that you have people who were born abroad who could even contest to become British

Prime Minister. So, why should that be a big issue in Nigeria?
So the Nigeria of our dream is the Nigeria where any Nigerian can get up from anywhere and contest for public office and that was the beauty of Nigeria before. I was just talking about Sir. Kashim Ibrahim running election in Benue – a Borno man in a predominantly Christian State, a Muslim and he was elected into the Northern Assembly. You talk about Zik of Africa who was elected into the Western House of Assembly. I think what we have now is a complete degeneracy in our polity in this era. The founding fathers of our Republic were more progressive and more forward looking, whether they were from the North or West or from wherever. They were more nationalistic and more patriotic. It beats my imagination that the younger generation who claims to be more educated and more exposed, are regressing into clannishness which wasn’t even the case in the First Republic. So, we need to take Nigeria back to those values that gave Nigeria independence; a Nigeria where an Igala man can become the Mayor of Enugu and Enugu people will have no qualms about it. That’s the Nigeria our founding fathers left for us. So we cannot bequeath a Nigeria of the herdsmen that will start slitting the throats of citizens. That’s not the Nigeria we want to leave for our children.

I think there is lots of irresponsibility on the part of the leadership where the body language of the various leaders have been encouraging division, rather than bringing Nigeria together. So, the fact that I’m happy to say that Abuja is my base now, we are also sending a message that that is the Nigeria we want to build. That is the Nigeria we want to have, where you can play politics from where you live and you don’t have to retreat to your ancestral origin before you can do politics. That’s the new Nigeria we want to build.

Curtailing vote buying on Election Day
That is a job for all of us, including the media. But the level of poverty in the country encourages it. I also think that those who have stolen a lot of money from government also encourage it. So, once you de-market certain categories of people and that is the job of all of us, I think the vote buying will reduce, especially de-marketing them by making the election about issues. But when the choices are not very sharp, or when the differences in the political platform are not clear, then the electorate will say they are the same; why should I choose one over the other, except the one that offers me something because there is no difference between APC and PDP. Tell me why anybody should prefer PDP to APC? There is no reason to be honest with you. So, that’s an incentive for vote buying, when there is no difference between the political parties. But when there is a clear difference, I think the scope of vote buying will become narrower.

https://guardian.ng/politics/ruling-party-and-pdp-are-dead-horses-says-anns-olawepo-hashim/

Calm down bro.

A new Nigeria is possible. Join the team

DeBrain045:
I believe if the kenya or nigeria man has lived a reputable number of years in that country and knows how things work

So, what makes you think its different if igala man has lived in Enugu, or if Igbo man has lived in Lagos?

islandmoon:
people are now selling their PVC to eat, and buyers who have 50 or more are now negotiating with politicians, people are hungry and that is APC and PDP has turned Nigeria to.
what a shame!

We must never allow this to continue and that can only happen when we join those working to create a new Nigeria

ednut1:
Most of these parties are attention seekers and time wasters. They have no presence in grassroot politics have no office in most states. Nonsense

ANN is different.

Lucid1:
Dead horses but they’re in the news everyday, and you too can’t keep them out of your mouth. Go Sidon

Even satan is always in the news. The same with Shekau

Elder4sure:
APC is more 'deader than PDP

i think PDP is more deader oooo

kolafolabi:
Attention seeker

That;s a good thing. Seeking the attention of all lovers of a new Nigeria.

kaymandak:
Really... APC and PDP I know, who are thou?..... In the voice of that Biblical demon

Alliance for New Nigeria

This should be the platform for all lovers of a new Nigeria

voicelez:
Absolutely correct, same set of people jumping from one party to the other

You are correct

Do you also like a situation, where an Igbo man is elected as representative in Lagos or An Ondo man, elected as lawmaker in osun?

DeBrain045:
I agree with the first point talking about corruption and ethical politics where by they will say the presidential candidate will come from a particular place and no where else.
I totally disagree with the point by which an igala man will come and governor enugu state it is not possible and can never be possible their is a saying that charity begins at home so if a igala man can't conquer benue state and become their governor then let him prepare well and try next time than to say he his coming to enugu or any other state and rule because he can never win wether today or tomorrow

Your points are properly noted.

But let me ask you a question.

Do you agree with a system, that allows a Kenyan man, Obama to become the President of America or a Nigerian man to be a senator in UK?

?

There is a Huge Social and Economic Crisis in Nigeria’

QUOTE:

When the choices are not very sharp, or when the differences in the political platform are not clear, then the electorate will say they are the same. Tell me why anybody should prefer PDP to APC? There is no reason. That’s an incentive for vote buying, when there is no difference between the political parties.

Presidential aspirant on the platform of the Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN), Mr. Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim spoke to Nseobong Okon-Ekong on the sideline of the party’s first national convention held in Abuja that he has the capacity to run a united Nigeria





What programme does the ANN profess?

Number one, you will see that majority of the people in ANN are people who have something they are doing with their hands. They are not professional politicians who live on politics. The party believes in productive engagement. That is number one and consequently, the focus of the party is not to distribute handouts, but to make sure that we have sustainable employment that is tied to industry and manufacturing. Job is central to that. Creative people who are utilising their creative energy to make value for society is central to that. These are the kind of people you want to encourage in politics. They are the kind of people you want to use your political platform to empower.

Then we want a Nigeria that is not going to be driven on the basis of ethnicity or religious bigotry. We want a Nigeria where merit will determine a lot of things that will drive the values that society runs on. These are things that are quite different. That’s not what you see in the two biggest parties in Nigeria. Anytime they are talking, it’s about zoning; it’s about whether the President is going to be from the South or from the East and all that. That is the conversation all the time. There is no serious focus on how to grow infrastructure. There is no conversation on how to create jobs. There is no conversation on to expand the GDP and the economy. Their conversation is who is leaving the PDP tomorrow for APC; what is the next permutation? When you centre the conversation on religion, these are inanities and lot of people can run away with a lot of things. It’s that conversation that has fowled the atmosphere so much now. Criminals who should be in jail will escape with the loot because when you want to arrest them, they will say I’m from this corner or that corner. Then people from their village will go and make a public display that they are persecuting our son because the whole conversation is about ethnicity. It makes nonsense of anti-corruption. It makes nonsense of failure in governance. When you elevate the issues, then people cannot hide and escape the consequences of their criminal actions.

How can your party match the level of vote buying we have seen in recent elections?

That is a job for all of us, including the media. But the level of poverty in the country encourages it. I also think that those who have stolen a lot of money from government also encourage it. Once you de-market certain categories of people and that is the job of all of us, I think the vote buying will reduce, especially de-marketing them by making the election about issues. When the choices are not very sharp, or when the differences in the political platform are not clear, then the electorate will say they are the same. Tell me why anybody should prefer PDP to APC? There is no reason. That’s an incentive for vote buying, when there is no difference between the political parties. When there is a clear difference. I think the scope of vote buying will become narrower.



As the former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), why are you pursuing your presidential ambition on another platform?

I left PDP in November 2006. I had issues at that time with the PDP and I think the party now is worse. We had issues of internal democracy and the standards were even pretty high in terms of values and we even questioned that they were not adequate. You can imagine what it has become now. I think it’s pretty worse now than when we formed the party. Some of our colleagues in the National Working Committee (NWC) wanted automatic extension of their tenure from two years to four years. Late Harry Marshal, myself, and others challenged it, even though we were supposed to be beneficiaries of that extension. We had just come from military dictatorship and coming into democracy, we were not supposed to be conducting ourselves with impunity.

By 2006, a lot of people exited the party including the founders of the party. That was why the 2007 election was the worst election in Nigeria. It was like warfare because they had lost support of most of the members that made victory possible. They needed to rig election massively. Some of these people who became governors in that era on the PDP platform didn’t really win elections. Some of them transformed themselves to Senators. The perfidy did not start today.

But the other dimension was that people who were helped into office through rigging had less loyalty to people’s welfare. This took a toll on the quality of leadership. You had some governors who were making their houseboys governors. Some of them made their cash officers or account officers in banks to become governors. I just make my account officer in the bank; I say I’m going; you are the one who can cover my track. The guy had never participated in politics. He had never even been a student union leader. He has never been a leader in the CAN or a Muslim organization where he have some rudiments of organising people, and straight, he becomes Chief Executive of a state.

Why do you want to be President?

I can put Nigeria back together. Nigeria is badly divided and it needs a unifier and a bridge builder. Nigeria’s economy needs to be rescued from complete collapse. Even the growth rate of 7 percent that we have for about 15 years until 2015 was not a good enough number to grow Nigeria out of poverty. We needed our GDP to expand sevenfold to be able to be at par with the countries that were in the same rank as Nigeria’s like Malaysia at independence. We want to evolve a middle income country, having per capita income of between $16,000 to around $25,000 and if we are going to be at that level, we need to grow within ten years, our GDP by sevenfold. I understand how the modern economy is organised and I’m an investor myself in different countries and I have done business for 27 years. So, I have practical understanding of how to expand our GDP and grow our economy, as one who is on top of both economy, practically and theoretically. There are very few people in Nigeria who have the privilege of having strong level of political training and also sound economics and that’s important for Nigeria. We have to unite the country and at the same time, we have to deal with the economic challenges. At the bottom of some of these challenges in the country is competition for resources and massive poverty. It also contributes to the number of these upheavals that we are having in different parts of the country. Some of the realities are quite scary and needs the urgency of now to arrest them. Otherwise, if the trend continues, things can really run out of hand. Some months ago, we were discussing with some people who came to visit us from Shiroro (Niger state) and we were talking about insecurity, they said the kind of insecurity we are seeing now is not just about herdsmen and farmers clashes; that in Shiroro, once they bury their yams in the ground around the planting season, some people will go and unearth the yams; some will even go and sell the seedlings in the market in order to have some money. What they do now is they mark the yam seedlings with paints so that when it shows up at the market, everybody will know that this is a stolen yam. Are you going to send policemen to be manning every farm in Nigeria? This is a huge social economic crisis. That one is no longer just security problem. It’s a serious problem of chronic poverty and collapse of all the economic lever of hope. This matter is an urgent matter. You cannot discuss some of these security challenges outside the issue of poverty and the collapse of the economic support system for the people to live to be human beings in the first place. That demands an urgency of now.

The discussions and analysis of 2019 leaves all these practical questions out. The real issues are left out and we will ensure by the grace of God that 2019 election is going to be about issues. It’s not just going to be about the shenanigans of politics.

Do you see your ambition being hampered in one way or the other by zoning, ethnicity, which appear widespread?

I don’t see how my ambition is limited by that. If anything, I think Nigerians want a truly Nigerian President. It only helps in a period of great division. Nigerians need a true Commander-in-Chief of all Nigerians regardless of where they come from or regardless of their State. That is the President that Nigerians need and that person is me.

Your name as it used to be known when you were in the PDP and what you are known now and also your home state have changed from what you have today. Are contesting from the FCT? Why these changes?

That’s the Nigeria the Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN) wants. I‘ve lived in Abuja at least for a while, doing business for more than 20 years. You shouldn’t have a problem with (Governor Rauf) Aregbesola moving from Lagos to become governor in Osun State. This is not the first time we are having this type of thing. The country we want to build is the country where your regional descent should not define you politically. I have heritage in about three states. I have lived abroad for about 10 years of my life. I’m completely a cosmopolitan person. I don’t have dual citizenship. I have only the Nigerian passport. I’ve had the opportunity of taking citizenship of other countries but I had never done that.

The Nigeria of our dream is the Nigeria where any Nigerian can get up from anywhere and contest for public office and that was the beauty of Nigeria before. Sir Kashim Ibrahim– a Borno man was elected in a predominantly Christian state (Benue). You talk about Zik of Africa who was elected into the Western House of Assembly. I think what we have now is a complete degeneracy in our polity in this era. The founding fathers of our Republic were more progressive and more forward looking, whether they were from the North or West. They were more nationalistic and more patriotic. It beats my imagination that the younger generation who claim to be more educated and more exposed, are regressing into clans which wasn’t even the case in the First Republic. We need to take Nigeria back to those values that gave Nigeria independence; a Nigeria where an Igala man can become the Mayor of Enugu and Enugu people will have no qualms about it.

There is lots of irresponsibility on the part of the leadership where the body language of the various leaders have been encouraging division, rather than bringing Nigeria together. I’m happy to say that Abuja is my base now.

You have that the ANN will make the 2019 race a three-horse race. How your party achieve that?

The two horses are on their way to death already. They are bleeding very horribly. You have almost 10 million voters who are going to be voting for the first time in Nigeria. They are the crop of people who ordinarily were not showing interest in politics. These are the first line of support for the ANN. In a three-way race, if you start with 70 percent of that vote, you are already halfway through and you can do your research. These ones are unlikely to vote for PDP or APC.

Then you have a number of patriotic people even in the APC and PDP who have been trapped in that politics and these people have been given the impression that it’s either this one or that one. But the ANN is offering a ray of hope that captures their imagination. They are already leaving the two parties in droves. Ordinarily, a lot of Nigerians are forward looking and they are really yearning for a new Nigeria, a new polity.

Having left the PDP in 2006, what did you engage yourself with between 2006 and 2018?

I’ve been a businessman. I’ve never had any other occupation rather than running my business for over 27 years. Politics is the one that is my second address, not my first job. That’s why I can walk away from a meeting if I don’t agree to what they are doing. I’m not compelled to be part of any political grouping except I really have interest in what they are doing.

I’ve never been more fulfilled in my life politically than I am currently and I am enjoying it, being a political platform that I believe in ideologically and that is expressing who I am and mirroring the kind of country I want. I’m not managing this platform. I’m at home. After the 2015 election, I promised myself that as long as I live in this country, I will never sit back and disallow the Nigerian electorate say, ‘oh, we don’t have a choice. These parties look the same’. We have to present them with a credible alternative because in 2015, a lot of people really didn’t have a choice. The 2015 election was like a referendum to remove Jonathan and of course you see the consequence of what happened. Election should not be just any idiot. People should have concrete choices to make in terms of programmes, in terms of ideology and that is the least responsibility that we owe Nigerians. If we can present that alternative and that programme, regardless of how they vote, we would have done our due and then it will be for the electorate to live with the consequences of their choice. I have a lot of regard for the electorate that they are sensible enough, they are literate enough and they have shown that in fact they are rooting for good government. By the grace of God, the outcome is going to make the whole world proud of Nigeria.

Is that why you call yourselves technoticians? Can you explain?

That’s a term in ANN. It means basically technocrats, lawyers, doctors, professionals who are also interested in politics. That is that slang in ANN. If I want to make it simpler, it’s people who have something they are doing with their hands.

IN THE MIRROR (Box and Shade This Part)

*Former student union and rights activist; founding Deputy National Publicity of the PDP

*Imprisoned without trial by the IBB regime, declared a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International, later freed after legal battle and international pressure

*Formerly known as Gbenga Oladepo, now known as Gbenga Oladepo-Hashim’ originally from Kwara State, now contesting for political office out of the FCT

*First runner-up in the 2007 Kwara State governorship election on the platform of the Democratic Peoples Party (DPP). Dr. Bukola Saraki won the election. Contested on the same party ticket again in 2011, but lost

*Spent over N50 million over two years to reclaim the mandate in legal battles, besides hundreds of millions spent on the actual quest for the governorship

*Serial investor in different sectors of the economy and multi-billionaire businessman

*Promised 400,000 jobs to Kwarans. Presented the blueprint titled, ‘The Leader We Trust’ which contained how the jobs would be created, where it would be created, the cost, where to secure the funds and how to payback within four years



https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2018/08/23/there-is-a-huge-social-and-economic-crisis-in-nigeria/

Ekez:
Thank u sir especially APC dat wan don die

Na so my brother

Ruling party and PDP are dead horses, says ANN’s Olawepo-Hashim

In this interview, Mr. Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim who was at some time the Deputy Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) but now a chieftain and presidential hopeful of the Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN) said both the PDP and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) have failed Nigeria and that his new platform has what it takes to bring the country out of the woods. Niyi Bello, Abuja Bureau Chief, reports.

PDP and APC are almost dead horses
The two parties are on their way to death already. They are bleeding very horribly. One thing that is interesting is that you have almost 10 million voters who are going to be voting for the first time in Nigeria. Most of them are not followers of these two horses you are talking about. In fact, they are the crop of people who ordinarily were not showing interest in politics, who are incensed by the shenanigans of those two major parties, that they don’t want to vote for either of these parties. These are the first line of support for the ANN. In a three-way race, if you start with 70 percent of that vote, you are already halfway through and you can do your research.

These ones are unlikely to vote for PDP or APC. So, that is the starting point. Then you have a number of patriotic people even in the APC and PDP who have been trapped in that politics and these people have been given the impression that it’s either this one or that one. But the ANN is offering a ray of hope that captures their imagination. They are already leaving the two parties in droves. Ordinarily, a lot of Nigerians are forward looking and they are really yearning for a new Nigeria, a new polity. You can also do your independent findings. If you try to find out who these people are likely to vote for, you will see that majority of electorates, apart from those who make a living of politics, are not interested in APC or PDP.


The difference in the ANN
Number one, you will see that majority of the people in ANN are people who have something they are doing with their hands. They are not professional politicians who live on politics. The party believes in productive engagement. That is number one and consequently, the focus of the party is not to distribute handouts, but to make sure that we have sustainable employment that is tied to industry, that is tied to manufacturing. Job is central to that. Creative people who are utilizing their creative energy to make value for society is central to that. These are the kinds of people you want to encourage in politics. They are the kinds of people you want to use your political platform to empower.

Then we want a Nigeria that is not going to be driven on the basis of ethnicity or religious bigotry. We want a Nigeria where merit will determine a lot of things that will drive the values that society runs on. These are things that are quite different. That’s not what you see in the two biggest parties in Nigeria. Anytime they are talking, it’s about zoning; it’s about whether the President is going to be from the South or from the East and all that. That is the conversation all the time. There is no serious focus on how do we grow infrastructure.

There is no conversation on how do we create jobs. There is no conversation on how do we expand the GDP and the economy. That’s not the conversation. Their conversation is who is leaving the PDP tomorrow for APC; what is the next permutation. That is all the conversation and that is nonsense, bunkum. Nigeria’s conversation about politics should be about jobs, about economy and that is when people cannot escape responsibilities. But when you make the conversation all about religion and all that, these are inanities and lot of people can run away with a lot of things. It’s that conversation that has fouled the atmosphere so much now and you see criminals who should be in jail will escape with the loot because when you want to arrest them, they will say I’m from this corner or that corner. Then people from their village will go and make a public display that they are persecuting our son because the whole conversation is about ethnicity. So, it makes nonsense of anti-corruption. It makes nonsense of failure in governance. But when you elevate the issues, then people cannot hide and escape the consequences of their criminal actions.

On changing state of origin
That’s the Nigeria I want. That’s the Nigeria the Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN) wants. I‘ve lived in Abuja at least for a while, doing business for more than twenty something years. So, you shouldn’t have a problem with Mrs. Clinton doing politics and then going back to New York to contest for Senate, or in Nigeria, (Governor Rauf) Aregbesola moving from Lagos. So, this is not the first time we are having this type of thing. The country we want to build is the country where your regional descent should not define you politically. In my case, of course, I have heritage in about three states and apart from that, I have lived abroad for about 10 years of my life. So, I’m completely a cosmopolitan person and we have a lot of Nigerians having dual citizenship. I don’t have dual citizenship. I have only the Nigerian passport. I’ve had the opportunity of taking citizenship of other countries but I had never done that. What I’m saying is that you have people who were born abroad who could even contest to become British

Prime Minister. So, why should that be a big issue in Nigeria?
So the Nigeria of our dream is the Nigeria where any Nigerian can get up from anywhere and contest for public office and that was the beauty of Nigeria before. I was just talking about Sir. Kashim Ibrahim running election in Benue – a Borno man in a predominantly Christian State, a Muslim and he was elected into the Northern Assembly. You talk about Zik of Africa who was elected into the Western House of Assembly. I think what we have now is a complete degeneracy in our polity in this era. The founding fathers of our Republic were more progressive and more forward looking, whether they were from the North or West or from wherever. They were more nationalistic and more patriotic. It beats my imagination that the younger generation who claims to be more educated and more exposed, are regressing into clannishness which wasn’t even the case in the First Republic. So, we need to take Nigeria back to those values that gave Nigeria independence; a Nigeria where an Igala man can become the Mayor of Enugu and Enugu people will have no qualms about it. That’s the Nigeria our founding fathers left for us. So we cannot bequeath a Nigeria of the herdsmen that will start slitting the throats of citizens. That’s not the Nigeria we want to leave for our children.

I think there is lots of irresponsibility on the part of the leadership where the body language of the various leaders have been encouraging division, rather than bringing Nigeria together. So, the fact that I’m happy to say that Abuja is my base now, we are also sending a message that that is the Nigeria we want to build. That is the Nigeria we want to have, where you can play politics from where you live and you don’t have to retreat to your ancestral origin before you can do politics. That’s the new Nigeria we want to build.

Curtailing vote buying on Election Day
That is a job for all of us, including the media. But the level of poverty in the country encourages it. I also think that those who have stolen a lot of money from government also encourage it. So, once you de-market certain categories of people and that is the job of all of us, I think the vote buying will reduce, especially de-marketing them by making the election about issues. But when the choices are not very sharp, or when the differences in the political platform are not clear, then the electorate will say they are the same; why should I choose one over the other, except the one that offers me something because there is no difference between APC and PDP. Tell me why anybody should prefer PDP to APC? There is no reason to be honest with you. So, that’s an incentive for vote buying, when there is no difference between the political parties. But when there is a clear difference, I think the scope of vote buying will become narrower.

https://guardian.ng/politics/ruling-party-and-pdp-are-dead-horses-says-anns-olawepo-hashim/

ANN TARGETS 10 MILLION MEMBERS

Rising from its first national convention in Abuja, one of the optimistic political parties, Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN) has set a lofty target of going beyond 10-million membership mark by October 2018, in view of the 2019 general elections.

In a valedictory, ANN’s interim national chairman, Dr. Jay Samuels said the party was the vehicle to take Nigeria to a new dawn. He described ANN as “a strong ideological platform to move us forward as a nation. We are the bedrock for a new Nigeria, and the platform on which an ideal Nigeria truly beckons. It is the assembly of a people with a special mission. We are a platform of credible Nigerians, without any baggage. We are fresh, young, and vibrant and ready to proceed from a different pedestal because we are not committed to any special interest.”



Introducing the new chairman of the party, Mr. Daniel Dania who was elected unopposed, Samuels stated that 70 per cent of ANN’s teeming membership was made up of the young and the under 30s.

Speaking in the same vein, Dania said ANN was divinely orchestrated to cause a generational leadership change in Nigeria that will lead the country on the path of posterity and greatness. According to him, the party was set on the ideals of equal joiners and equal ownership. “Every member has the same right as everyone else.”

Mr. Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, a leading presidential aspirant on the ANN platform called on professionals to play strategic roles in rebuilding the country’s economy. He said Nigeria has the human and material resources to banish poverty. “We have the creative minds to make Nigeria great,” he stated.

Encouraged by a loud ovation from the audience, he said, the ANN remains the vehicle through which the desires of Nigerians could be met. Olawepo-Hashim assured, “When ANN is elected, by the grace of God within 10 years, with the policies I have seen our leaders put together, the GDP of the country will grow seven fold and we will move the country out of poverty. Per capita income will average nothing less than $20,000. We have the resources, the brain, the power and the commitment to do it. We will stop the killings in the land; we will bring Nigeria back together again. The APC has divided Nigeria more than we have ever seen in the history of this country. In Nigeria of old, the great people of Kano, elected a Yoruba man MKO Abiola and didn’t vote for their own son of the soil, Ibrahim Tofa. They demonstrated that they were committed to one Nigeria. In the history of our country, the great people of Benue elected Sir Kashim Ibrahim to represent them.”

Another ANN presidential aspirant, Alhaji Ibrahim Dan-Musa was confident that an ANN government could bring Nigeria back from the vicious cycle of backwardness. He said, “Together we will wrestle power and then make the desired impact for the good of our people.”

https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2018/08/21/ann-targets-10-million-members/

Gbenga Olawepo Hashim of the Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN) is the man. He combines an excellent political background, solid business expertise, human right credential and global knowledge, which is what Nigeria dearly need at this moment.

He is a pro democracy activist who was a member of G-34 that gave Nigeria the current democracy and he is a founding Deputy National Publicity Secretary of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) before he exited the party 12 years ago.

As a global business mogul with investment in several countries,he has proven that he has the required economic expertise to bring Nigeria out of the current economic decline and place it on the path of sustainable development. He has also demonstrated his commitment to Nigeria, by making his company be the first independent power generation company without a single kobo from government, yet producing 100 megawatt of electricity for the country.

As a celebrated human right activist is the late 80's and early 90's, his human human rights credential is also a plus, after being tutored by the likes of Gani Fawehinmi, Alao Aka Bashorun etc.


And his global knowledge in the corporate world can only be an added benefit to the country in all ramification.

Some of them never had any kind of political tutelage of any kind. You can imagine I just make my account officer in the bank; I say ‘I’m going; you are the one who can cover my track. Come and become a governor.’

The guy had never participated in politics. He had never even been a student union leader. He has never been a leader in the CAN or a Muslim organisation where we have some rudiments of organising people, and straight, he becomes Chief Executive of a state.



Are you not generalising the situation?

All these things have consequences – when you turn out leaders who do not have political tutelage, no ideological training, they just come into public office and just behave like rascals. That’s what you had in the PDP and of course, the APC that succeeded PDP is not any different.

In fact, it’s the worst because they are not even a political party. It was just a conspiracy to remove (Goodluck) Jonathan out of office and as soon as they came, they were confused.

They were completely confused about how to approach the economy, how to approach politics and they were running a disorganised government.

The National Assembly under the APC government was a different party entirely from those in the Executive and they were perennially at war from beginning to the end of that government. So, they were worse than even the PDP.



It appears your home state then has changed from what you have today. Today, you are contesting from the FCT why the transformation?

That’s the Nigeria I want. That’s the Nigeria the Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN) wants. I‘ve lived in Abuja at least for a while, doing business for more than 20 years.

So, you shouldn’t have a problem with Mrs. Clinton doing politics and then going back to New York to contest for Senate, or in Nigeria, (Governor Rauf) Aregbesola moving from Lagos.

So, this is not the first time we are having this type of thing. The country we want to build is the country where your regional descent should not define you politically. In my case, of course, I have heritage in about three states and apart from that, I have lived abroad for about 10 years of my life. So, I’m completely a cosmopolitan person and we have a lot of Nigerians having dual citizenship.

I don’t have dual citizenship. I have only the Nigerian passport. I’ve had the opportunity of taking citizenship of other countries but I had never done that. What I’m saying is that you have people who were born abroad who could even contest to become British Prime Minister. So, why should that be a big issue in Nigeria?

So the Nigeria of our dream is the Nigeria where any Nigerian can get up from anywhere and contest for public office and that was the beauty of Nigeria before.

I was just talking about Sir. Kashim Ibrahim running election in Benue – a Borno man in a predominantly Christian state, a Muslim and he was elected into the Northern Assembly. You talk about Zik of Africa who was elected into the Western House of Assembly.

I think what we have now is a complete degeneracy in our polity in this era. The founding fathers of our Republic were more progressive and more forward looking, whether they were from the North or West or from wherever.

They were more nationalistic and more patriotic. It beats my imagination that the younger generation who claims to be more educated and more exposed, are regressing into clannishness which wasn’t even the case in the First Republic.

I think there is lots of irresponsibility on the part of the leadership where the body language of the various leaders have been encouraging division, rather than bringing Nigeria together.

So, the fact that I’m happy to say that Abuja is my base now, we are also sending a message that that is the Nigeria we want to build.

How is your party planning to displace the APC and the PDP?

The two horses are on their way to death already. They are bleeding very horribly. They are both APC and PDP. One thing that is interesting is that you have almost 10 million voters who are going to be voting for the first time in Nigeria, most of them are not followers of these two horses you are talking about.

READ ALSO: Nigeria can generate $10b from biotechnology, says ABINL boss

In fact, they are the crop of people who ordinarily were not showing interest in politics, who are incensed by the shenanigans of those two major parties that they don’t want to vote for either of these parties. These are the first line of support for the ANN.

In a three-way race, if you start with 70 percent of that vote, you are already halfway through and you can do your research. These ones are unlikely to vote for PDP or APC. So, that is the starting point.

Then you have a number of patriotic people even in the APC and PDP who have been trapped in that politics and these people have been given the impression that it’s either this one or that one.

But the ANN is offering a ray of hope that captures their imagination. They are already leaving the two parties in droves.



How can your party match the level of vote buying we have seen in recent times?

That is a job for all of us, including the media. But the level of poverty in the country encourages it. So, once you de-market certain categories of people and that is the job of all of us, I think the vote buying will reduce, especially de-marketing them by making the election about issues.

But when the choices are not very sharp, or when the differences in the political platform are not clear, then the electorate will say they are the same.



Specifically, why do you want to be Nigeria’s President?

I can put Nigeria back together. Nigeria is badly divided and it needs a unifier and a bridge builder. Secondly, Nigeria’s economy needs to be rescued from complete collapse. Even the growth rate of 7 percent that we have for about 15 years until 2015 was not a good enough number to grow Nigeria out of poverty.

We needed our GDP to expand sevenfold to be able to be at par with the countries that were in the same rank as Nigeria, like Malaysia at independence. We want to evolve a middle income country, having per capita income of between $16,000 to around $25,000 and if we are going to be at that level, we need to grow within ten years, our GDP by sevenfold.

I understand how the modern economy is organised. I have practical understanding of how to expand our GDP and grow our economy. There are very few people in Nigeria who have the privilege of having strong level of political training and also sound economics and that’s important for Nigeria.

We have to unite the country and at the same time, we have to deal with the economic challenges. At the bottom of some of these challenges in the country is competition for resources and massive poverty.

Some months ago, we were discussing with some people who came to visit us from Shiroro (Niger State) and we were talking about insecurity, they said the kind of insecurity we are seeing now is not just about herdsmen and farmers clashes; that in Shiroro now, once they bury their yams in the ground around the planting season, some people will go and unearth the yams; some will even go and sell the seedlings in the market in order to have some money.

So, what they do now is they mark the yam seedlings with paints so that when it shows up at the market, everybody will know that this is a stolen yam. So, are you going to send policemen to be manning every farm in Nigeria? This is a huge social economic crisis. That one is no longer just security problem.

It’s a serious problem of chronic poverty and collapse of all the economic lever of hope. This matter is an urgent one. You cannot discuss some of these security challenges outside the issue of poverty and the collapse of the economic support system for the people to live to be human beings in the first place. That demands an urgency of now.

But the discussions and analysis of 2019 leaves all these practical questions out. It’s about what are the chances of this person; how many House of Reps members are following him?

How many governors do they have? The real issues are left out and we will ensure by the grace of God that 2019 election is going to be about issues. It’s not just going to be about the shenanigans of politics.

APC, PDP are same, ANN only viable option in 2019 – Olawepo-Hashim

Mr. Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim is a Presidential aspirant on the platform of the Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN), a party formed mainly by technocrats and professionals. The party had its first national convention in Abuja recently. And on the sideline of the convention, Olawepo-Hashim told journalists that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had lost its values, while the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has demonstrated lack of capacity to run a united Nigeria. He speaks on other issues.



You were a well-known member of the PDP when you served as the Deputy National Publicity Secretary at its inception. What is it about the PDP that is so objectionable to you, that made you dump that platform for ANN?

I left PDP in November 2006 about 12 years ago. I had issues at that time with the PDP and I think the party now is worse than then. The issues we had were issues of internal democracy and the standards were even pretty high in terms of values and we even questioned those standards then that they were not adequate.

So, you can imagine what it has become now. I think it’s pretty worse now than when we formed the party. We started with issues of internal democracy right from around year 2000 and 2001, when some of our colleagues in the National Working Committee (NWC) wanted automatic extension of their tenure from two years to four years.

Late Harry Marshal, myself, and others challenged it, even though we were supposed to be beneficiaries of that extension. We felt it was objectionable.

We had just come from military dictatorship and coming into democracy, we were not supposed to be conducting ourselves with impunity. So, that was the fight then around 2000, almost two decades ago now.

Then, by 2006, it was clear that the party was not ready to reform itself and a lot of people exited the party including the founders of the party that made victory possible.

That was why you saw that the 2007 election was perhaps the worst election that Nigeria ever had. It was like a warfare because they had lost support of most of the members that made victory possible.

So, they needed to rig election massively. So, the perfidy did not just start today. It started from that era and of course it began to go from bad to worst.

But the other dimension was that as you had people who were not reflecting genuine popularity, who were helped into office through rigging and all that, they had less loyalty to people’s welfare.

So, it also took a toll on the quality of leadership. You had some governors who were going to hand over to their successors, virtually just making their houseboys governors. Some of them made their cash officers or account officers in banks to become governors.

http://sunnewsonline.com/apc-pdp-are-same-ann-only-viable-option-in-2019-olawepo-hashim/

Specifically, why do you want to be President?

I can put Nigeria back together. Nigeria is badly divided and it needs a unifier and a bridge builder. Secondly, Nigeria’s economy needs to be rescued from complete collapse. Even the growth rate of 7 percent that we have for about 15 years until 2015 was not a good enough number to grow Nigeria out of poverty. We needed our GDP to expand sevenfold to be able to be at par with the countries that were in the same rank as Nigeria’s like Malaysia at independence. We want to evolve a middle income country, having per capita income of between $16,000 to around $25,000 and if we are going to be at that level, we need to grow within ten years, our GDP by sevenfold. I understand how the modern economy is organized and I’m an investor myself in different countries and I have done business for 27 years. So, I have practical understanding of how to expand our GDP and grow our economy, as one who is on top of both economy, practically and theoretically. There are very few people in Nigeria who have the privilege of having strong level of political training and also sound economics and that’s important for Nigeria. We have to unite the country and at the same time, we have to deal with the economic challenges. So, they are twin issues and in fact they are related. At the bottom of some of these challenges in the country is competition for resources and massive poverty. It also contribute to the number of these upheavals that we are having in different parts of the country. Some of the realities are quite scary and needs the urgency of now to arrest them. Otherwise, if the trend continues, things can really run out of hand. Some months ago, we were discussing with some people who came to visit us from Shiroro (Niger state) and we were talking about insecurity, they said the kind of insecurity we are seeing now is not just about herdsmen and farmers clashes; that in Shiroro now, once they bury their yams in the ground around the planting season, some people will go and unearth the yams; some will even go and sell the seedlings in the market in order to have some money. So, what they do now is they mark the yam seedlings with paints so that when it shows up at the market, everybody will know that this is a stolen yam. This is where we have come to in Shiroro in Niger State. So, are you going to send policemen to be manning every farm in Nigeria? This is a huge social economic crisis. That one is no longer just security problem. It’s a serious problem of chronic poverty and collapse of all the economic lever of hope. This matter is an urgent matter. You cannot discuss some of these security challenges outside the issue of poverty and the collapse of the economic support system for the people to live to be human beings in the first place. That demands an urgency of now.

But the discussions and analysis of 2019 leaves all these practical questions out. It’s about what is about what are the chances of this person; how many House of Reps members are following him? How many Governors do they have? The real issues are left out and we will ensure by the grace of God that 2019 election is going to be about issues. It’s not just going to be about the shenanigans of politics.

Is that why you call yourselves technoticians? Can you explain?

That’s a term in ANN. It means basically technocrats, lawyers, doctors, professionals who are also interested in politics. That is that slang in ANN. If I want to make it simpler, it’s people who have something they are doing with their hands.

Having left the PDP in 2006, what did you engage yourself with between 2006 and 2018?

Since 1992, I’ve been a businessman. I’ve never had any other occupation rather than running my business for over 27 years. Politics is the one that is my second address, not my first job and that’s why I can walk away from a meeting if I don’t agree to what they are doing. I’m not compelled to be part of any political grouping except I really have interest in what they are doing.

But talking about the political beat now, I’ve never been more fulfilled in my life politically than I am currently and I am enjoying it, being a political platform that I believe in ideologically and that is expressing who I am and mirroring the kind of country I want. So, I’m not managing this platform. I’m at home in this political platform. After 2015 election, I promised myself that as long as I live in this country, I will never sit back and disallow the Nigerian electorate the opportunity to have a choice in an election by saying oh, we don’t have a choice. These parties look the same. We have to present them with a credible alternative because in 2015, a lot of people really didn’t have a choice. The 2015 election was like a referendum to remove Jonathan and of course you see the consequence of what happened. People like us and you should not be in a country where people would be going to the polls and saying ‘just any idiot but this one’. That’s not a good election. Election should not be just any idiot. People should have concrete choices to make in terms of programmes, in terms of ideology and that is the least responsibility that we owe Nigerians. If we can present that alternative and that programme, regardless of how they vote, we would have done our dues and then it will be for the electorate to live with the consequences of their choice. But I have a lot of regard for the electorate that they are sensible enough, they are literate enough and they have shown that in fact they are rooting for good government, they are rooting for a Nigeria and I think the outcome, by the grace of God, is what is going to make the whole world to be proud of Nigeria.

You have put a lot of energy in reorganizing the ANN, if you don’t get the presidential ticket, what will you do?

I will still continue in ANN. But members of ANN are not stupid. They want to put their best foot forward for Nigerians so that the party can win and that is what we are working hard on.



Read more https://independent.ng/apc-pdp-on-their-way-out-olawepo-hashim/

Then, by 2006, it was clear that the party was not ready to reform itself and a lot of people exited the party including the founders of the party that made victory possible. That was why you saw that the 2007 election was perhaps the worst election that Nigeria ever had. 2007 election was like warfare because they had lost support of most of the members that made victory possible. So, they needed to rig election massively. That was the election conducted by Prof. Maurice Iwu with soldiers; very terrible election. Some of these people who became Governors in that era on the PDP platform didn’t really win elections. Some of them afterwards continued their careers and transformed themselves to Senators and all that. So, the perfidy did not just start today. The perfidy started from that era and of course it began to go from bad to worst.

But the other dimension was that as you had people who were not reflecting genuine popularity, who were helped into office through rigging and all that, they had less loyalty to people’s welfare. So, it also took a toll on the quality of leadership. You had some Governors who were going to hand over to their successors, virtually just making their houseboys Governors. Some of them made their cash officers or account officers in banks to become Governors. Some of them never had any kind of political tutelage of anytime. You can imagine, I just make my account officer in the bank; ‘I say I’m going; you are the one who can cover my track, come and become a Governor’. The guy had never participated in politics. He had never even been a student union leader. He has never been a leader in the CAN or a Muslim organization where we have some rudiments of organizing people, and straight, he becomes Chief Executive of a State.

You have identified the two main political parties as the two horses for the 2019 contest and you have also stated that the ANN will make the race a three horse race. How is your party planning to get to number one from the perceived number three positions it is now?

The two horses are on their way to death already. They are bleeding very horribly. They are both APC and PDP. One thing that is interesting is that you have almost 10 million voters who are going to be voting for the first time in Nigeria. Most of them are not followers of these two horses you are talking about. In fact, they are the crop of people who ordinarily were not showing interest in politics, who are incensed by the shenanigans of those two major parties, that they don’t want to vote for either of these parties. These are the first line of support for the ANN. In a three-way race, if you start with 70 percent of that vote, you are already halfway through and you can do your research. These ones are unlikely to vote for PDP or APC. So, that is the starting point.

Then you have a number of patriotic people even in the APC and PDP who have been trapped in that politics and these people have been given the impression that it’s either this one or that one. But the ANN is offering a ray of hope that captures their imagination. They are already leaving the two parties in droves. Ordinarily, a lot of Nigerians are forward looking and they are really yearning for a new Nigeria, a new polity. You can also do your independent findings. If you try to find out who these people are likely to vote for, you will see that majority of electorates, apart from those who make a living of politics, are not interested in APC or PDP.

I’m still trying to situate your name as it used to be known when you were in the PDP and what you are known as now and also it appears your home state then has changed from what you have today. Today, you are contesting from the FCT why the transformation?

That’s the Nigeria I want. That’s the Nigeria the Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN) wants. I‘ve lived in Abuja at least for a while, doing business for more than twenty something years. So, you shouldn’t have a problem with Mrs. Clinton doing politics and then going back to New York to contest for Senate, or in Nigeria, (Governor Rauf) Aregbesola moving from Lagos. So, this is not the first time we are having this type of thing. The country we want to build is the country where your regional descent should not define you politically. In my case, of course, I have heritage in about three states and apart from that, I have lived abroad for about 10 years of my life. So, I’m completely a cosmopolitan person and we have a lot of Nigerians having dual citizenship. I don’t have dual citizenship. I have only the Nigerian passport. I’ve had the opportunity of taking citizenship of other countries but I had never done that. What I’m saying is that you have people who were born abroad who could even contest to become British Prime Minister. So, why should that be a big issue in Nigeria?

So the Nigeria of our dream is the Nigeria where any Nigerian can get up from anywhere and contest for public office and that was the beauty of Nigeria before. I was just talking about Sir. Kashim Ibrahim running election in Benue – a Borno man in a predominantly Christian state, a Muslim and he was elected into the Northern Assembly. You talk about Zik of Africa who was elected into the Western House of Assembly. I think what we have now is a complete degeneracy in our polity in this era. The founding fathers of our Republic were more progressive and more forward looking, whether they were from the North or West or from wherever. They were more nationalistic and more patriotic. It beats my imagination that the younger generation who claims to be more educated and more exposed, are regressing into clannishness which wasn’t even the case in the First Republic. So, we need to take Nigeria back to those values that gave Nigeria independence; a Nigeria where an Igala man can become the Mayor of Enugu and Enugu people will have no qualms about it. That’s the Nigeria our founding fathers left for us. So we cannot bequeath a Nigeria of the herdsmen that will start slitting the throats of citizens. That’s not the Nigeria we want to leave for our children.


I think there is lots of irresponsibility on the part of the leadership where the body language of the various leaders have been encouraging division, rather than bringing Nigeria together. So, the fact that I’m happy to say that Abuja is my base now, we are also sending a message that that is the Nigeria we want to build. That is the Nigeria we want to have, where you can play politics from where you live and you don’t have to retreat to your ancestral origin before you can do politics. That’s the new Nigeria we want to build.

Read more https://independent.ng/apc-pdp-on-their-way-out-olawepo-hashim/

Mr. Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim is a Presidential aspirant on the platform of the Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN), a party comprised mainly of technocrats and professionals. He spoke to newsmen on the sidelines of the party’s first national convention held in Abuja on why he is vying for the highest office in the land and how his party ANN will reorganise the country if it emerges as the ruling party. TEMIDAYO AKINSUYI brings the excerpts:

You were a well-known member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) when you served as the Deputy National Publicity Secretary at its inception. What is it about the PDP that is so objectionable to you that made dump that platform in pursuit of your presidential ambition?

I left PDP in November 2006 about 12 years ago. I had issues at that time with the PDP and I think the party now is worse than then. The issues we had were issues of internal democracy and the standards were even pretty high in terms of values and we even questioned those standards then that they were not adequate. So, you can imagine what it has become now. I think it’s pretty worse now than when we formed the party. We started with issues of internal democracy right from around year 2000 and 2001, when some of our colleagues in the National Working Committee (NWC) wanted automatic extension of their tenure from two years to four years. Late Harry Marshal, myself, and others challenged it, even though we were supposed to be beneficiaries of that extension. We felt it was objectionable. We had just come from military dictatorship and coming into democracy, we were not supposed to be conducting ourselves with impunity. So, that was the fight then around 2000, almost two decades ago now.



Read more https://independent.ng/apc-pdp-on-their-way-out-olawepo-hashim/

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My Encounter with Kofi Annan by Abdulrazaq O Hamzat
https://mrrightsng..com/2018/08/my-encounter-with-kofi-annan-by.html

My first encounter with Kofi Annan happened in my peace course material, then our path crossed in real life.

Anyone who has a degree in Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution will most likely come across the name of Kofi Annan and Boutrus Ghali almost on daily basis.

Apart from Mahatma Ghandi of India, the famous nonviolent resistance activist, Boutrus Ghali and Kofi Annan are arguably the two most important figures in the development of peace practice, particularly at the United Nations.

Whenever you hear the phrase, ''agenda for peace'', expect the mention of Boutrus Ghali, but when you hear ''peace building'', expect to hear Kofi Annan.

Both men are from Africa and they are both former Secretary General of United Nations who played leading role in the development of those concepts.

After coming across Kofi Annan all through my first degree classes in our course materials, i later came close to meeting the icon during my MSc.

Immediately after my first degree from the University, I published a book titled, ''African Traditional Methods of Promoting Peace in the 21st century.

The book was an improved version of my final year thesis at the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN)

Some how, Rashid Zuberu a respected friend in the peace building sector, who think highly of the book sent it to the Kofi Annan Institute and they indicated interest in adopting the book as one of their course materials.

However, things didn't go as thought.

What is important here is that, even though the deal didn't eventually scale through, it kept my memory of the icon fresh and my determination to meet him was activated.

Again, after Foundation for Peace Professionals (FPP) was established and we decided to produce Nigeria Peace Index (NPI) as our first major research project, I had resolved that during the launch of the project, I will ensure Kofi Annan is there to unveil it.

Actually, i went ahead to inquire what it takes to bring Annan to Nigeria from Switzerland, where he was based and what was left was to complete the NPI and secure the commitment.

However, we could not complete the project on time due many factors and when we eventually did, things have changed for us, that bringing him to Nigeria was totally out of the equation.

The Nigeria Peace Index wasn't even properly launched, we only presented it to the media in a small conference and that was all.

Hopefully, the next edition will be better and it will enjoy greater feasibility.

To now imagine that the peace icon i read, repeatedly in text books is gone is more like a misery. Even though i never meet him in person, it always felt like we are together.

According to Hajer Sharief who had been mentored by Kofi Annan, she said the last time they met, he said they will meet again. I wish he told me that. I wish I can actually meet him again, but obviously, the peaceful man is gone.

Did you read the statement that announced his departure? They said he died peaceful. He lived peacefully too and can we then guess how he would rest?

The death of Kofi Annan is painful to me because, my dream of bringing the global citizen to Nigeria and sitting side by side with him is gone.

But the thought that such a great mind shared this continent with me is enough consolation.

Kofi Annan maybe gone, but he will always remain with us for generations.

Rest in Peace baba, like you lived in Peace baba.

Abdulrazaq O Hamzat is an Executive Director at Foundation for Peace Professionals

Kwara Must Change