The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Olawepo-Hashim

  • I’m ready for debate, says Olawepo-Hashim

    ALLIANCE for New Nigeria (ANN) presidential candidate Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim said yesterday that he was ready for a presidential debate with President Muhammadu Buhari, ahead of next year’s election.

    He said the President should participate in a live debate, where he will tender his stewardship.

    Olawepo-Hashim told reporters in Lagos that Nigerians are warming up for the poll, adding that the exercise would determine the future progress and prosperity of the country.

    He said: “I am ready for presidential debate with President Muhammadu Buhari and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar. I won’t debate with the vice-president, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (SAN). My running mate, and not me, will debate with Osinbajo. I am a presidential candidate.”

    The ANN/Alliance for Peoples Trust (APT) flagbearer, whose party is in alliance with other opposition parties, also said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate will bring Nigeria backward, if elected as president.

    He urged voters to decide between candidates, who will retard progress and a flag bearer whose leadership will give birth to a new Nigeria.

    Olawepo-Hashim said the outcome of the 2019 poll will shock many people, stressing that Nigerians are prepared to take their destiny in their hand.

  • ANN picks Olawepo-Hashim as presidential candidate

    THE Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN) has picked Mr. Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim as its candidate in the February 16, 2019 presidential election.

    Olawepo-Hashim won the party’s ticket at its national convention and presidential primary election held on the premises of Ibeto Hotel in Abuja with 593 delegates in attendance.

    The convention ratified his candidature through a voice vote, following the earlier withdrawal of another presidential aspirant, Alhaji Ibrahim Eyitayo Dan-Musa.

    Other presidential aspirants, who had earlier indicated interest in the party’s ticket did not present themselves for screening.

    The convention also ratified the strategic alliance between ANN and another political party, Peoples Trust (PT) in the single-minded mission to rescue Nigeria.

    Prior to the ratification of Olawepo-Hashim’s candidature, the convention had approved the expulsion of the party’s suspended national chairman, Pastor Emmanuel Dania and the deputy national secretary, Mr. Osita Okonkwo, for alleged anti-party activities.

    In Dania’s stead, the pioneer ANN national chairman, Dr. Jay Osi-Samuels, who had at the party’s last convention in Abuja stepped aside, returned to the position and was ratified by the convention.

    Olawepo-Hashim, who was elated at the decision by the delegates to elect him unopposed, said at the occasion witnessed by officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that he was more than ever committed to the mission to rescue Nigeria from the stranglehold of underdevelopment and economic backwardness.

    He said he would vigorously pursue the mandate given to him by the party, promising to deploy it to unite Nigeria, create jobs and put smile on the faces of Nigerians.

    According to him, “Our people are tired of poverty; they want jobs, training for unskilled youths, support for farmers as well as the young and the old.”

    Declaring that “there is no time for small boys’ politics on the way to the Promised Land”, Olawepo-Hashim said: “There are political generals in this party and we will not surrender to political boys’ scouts and girl guides.”

    He added that having come this far, the political movement for which he had provided leadership was unstoppable.

    “This is not the time for rhetoric. Nigerians want to see politics with integrity.  This is not the time for apprentice leadership. The 2019 train must be decisive for change in Nigeria,” he stated.

    Olawepo-Hashim listed his offerings to Nigeria as including commitment to build a new economy that would take the nation from $510 billion Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to $4 trillion GDP in the next ten years.

    According to him, “It is that size of economy that will deal with hunger and malnutrition in the land.  We want to build a big economy that will cater to 180 million Nigerians.”

     

     

  • Olawepo-Hashim pulls out of ANN presidential primary

    Mr. Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, a Presidential aspirant on the platform of Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN) has pulled out of the presidential primary on grounds of breach of the party’s constitutional procedures.
    He accused the party  leaders of breaching  the party’s constitutional procedure in the build-up to the presidential primary slated for Saturday.
    Olawepo-Hashim, said in a letter addressed to the party chairman that it is regrettable that the abnormalities he mentioned to the chairman at their Wednesday meetings had not been corrected.
    “The list of delegates has not been provided to me as a Presidential Aspirant on the platform of the ANN. This is contrary to the constitution of the ANN and the Electoral Act. This is such a fundamental flaw as to render any exercise purporting to be presidential primaries to be nugatory” he said
    He further said said it is unfortunate that even on the eve of the primaries, guidelines for the primaries, which ought to have been approved by the National Executive Committee (NEC) and issued at least seven days before the elections, are not available.
    “The absence of guidelines to guide the conduct of the primaries constitute a grave violation of our party’s Constitution and the Electoral Act”
    “The arrangements for the Presidential Primaries have not been published so that everyone will know. Who are those to conduct the Primaries, including Accreditation of delegates, Screening of Aspirants etc. As a Presidential Aspirant, I am yet to know the arrangements put in place for the conduct of the primaries”
    “I regret to inform you that I will not participate in tomorrow’s primaries until the constitution of the party is respected and all the defects are rectified”

  • ANN’s presidential aspirant Olawepo-Hashim to fix economy

    A presidential aspirant on the platform of Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN), Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, has picked the party’s nomination form ahead of next year’s election.

    The aspirant promised to foster unity, fix the economy and stop the killings in the land.

    He said: “I will unite Nigerians, fix the economy and stop killings in the land.

    “I respect President Muhammadu Buhari, but…”

    Olawepo-Hashim said he respects President Muhammadu Buhari for his sacrifices to the nation, adding that what Nigeria urgently needs is a President who will be a commander-in-chief to all Nigerians.

    He said: “I am, therefore, better placed to bring the country back together. I am most assured I can get the job done, given my record of accomplishment.

    “I will restructure the economy from a dependent one to a self-reliant economy by investing in iron and steel, research and development and in other critical sectors.”

    The critical sectors, he said, will include “chemical and machine tools to generate the production of capital goods, local capital and to bring in prosperity, through the needed multipliers”.

    The business mogul with substantial interest in oil exploration and energy generation also promised to implement what he called a New Economic Development Programme (NEDP).

    This, he said, will lead to the expansion of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from $510 billion to $4 trillion within 10 years.

    Olawepo-Hashim also said the NEDP would increase the Per Capital Income (PCI) of the average Nigerian to between $16,000 to $18,000 within 10 years as well.

    This, the aspirant said, would make Nigeria to be at par with middle-income countries, like Malaysia, “with whom we had comparable income level at independence”.

    He said NEDP would target an estimated $2 trillion into infrastructure within 10 years, adding that it would create jobs from manufacturing, industrialisation and link up industries with solid minerals and the Agricultural sector.

    According to him, the Agricultural sector will be integrated with the industrial and solid mineral sectors to create sustainable jobs for youths through the promotion of innovation and the knowledge economy.

    Olawepo-Hashim said not all problems in Nigeria are caused by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

    He said: “Some are caused by the colonial masters and have been left unattended to. It is, however, regrettable that the former colonial masters now ridicule the nation, and even more regrettable is that the APC and previous leaders lack the skill set to correct things.”

    On the President, he said: “I respect President Buhari. He is our baba, and we are his children. From where I come from, we do not insult elders. Truth is that he has done a lot, and should now go and rest. We are prepared to give him a befitting exit.”

  • Pomp, as Olawepo-Hashim picks ANN presidential nomination form

    “I will unite Nigerians, fix the economy, and stop killings in the land”, he says, adding, “I respect President Buhari, but…”

    It was pomp as frontline Presidential aspirant, Mr. Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim went notches higher towards the realization of his ambition yesterday as he procured the Alliance for New Nigeria’s (ANN) nomination form, promising to foster unity, fix the economy and to stop the killings in the land.

    Olawepo-Hashim who said he is full of respect for President Mohammadu Buhari for his sacrifices to the nation, however noted that what Nigeria urgently needs is a president that will be a commander-in-chief to all Nigerians.

    “I am therefore better placed to bring the country back together. I am most assured I can get the job done given my record of accomplishment” he said with a high of confidence, adding “I will restructure the economy from a dependent one to a self-reliant economy by investing in iron and steel, research and development, and in other critical sectors”

    These critical sectors, he pursued, will include “chemical and machine tools, so as to generate the production of capital goods, local capital and to bring in prosperity, through the needed multipliers”

    The business mogul with substantial interest in Oil Exploration and Energy generation also promised to implement a New Economic Development Programme (NEDP), which will lead to the expansion of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from 510 billion dollars to 4 trillion dollars within ten years.

    Besides, the NEDP will also increase the Per Capital Income (PCI) of the average Nigerian to between 16,000 to18, 000 US dollars within ten years as well. This, to the cerebral politician, will make Nigeria to be at par with middle-income countries like Malaysia, with whom we had comparable income level at independence.

    Other than this, the astute politician said NEDP would target an estimated 2 trillion US dollars into infrastructure within ten years. It will also create jobs from manufacturing, industrialization, and then link up industries with solid minerals and the agricultural sector.

    According to him, the agricultural sector will be integrated with the industrial and solid mineral sectors, to create sustainable jobs for youths employment will also be accelerated through the promotion of innovation and the knowledge economy.

    He reasoned that not all problems in Nigeria are caused by the APC. “Some are caused by the colonial masters and have been left unattended to. It is however regrettable that the former colonial masters now ridicule the nation, and even more regrettable that the APC and previous leaders lack the skill set to correct things”

    Olawepo-Hashim then noted: “I respect President Buhari. He is our baba, and we are his children. From where I come from, we do not insult elders. Truth is that he has done a lot, and should now go and rest. We are prepared to give him a befitting exit”

  • Olawepo-Hashim: Southeast youths should embrace ANN

    A Presidential aspirant on the platform of the Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN),  Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, has urged Southeast youths to renew their revolutionary instincts, which they displayed in the pre-independence days to rescue Nigeria in next year’s elections.

    Olawepo-Hashim, who addressed members of the ANN at the party secretariat in Abakalili, Ebonyi State capital, and at a youth rally in Afikpo, said the youths must re-enact the revolutionary instincts of Osita Agunna, who led the Zikist Movement to deliver a deadly blow to the colonialists during the independence struggles.

    The rally in Afikpo involved a four kilometre trek from the Market Square where Olawepo-Hashim commissioned a constituency project executed by Maria Ude, a member of Ebonyi State House of Assembly to the community field.

    Olawepo-Hashim said: “The Eastern Region has produced real committed leaders who have displayed the spirit of self service and selflessness which contributed to the victory in the war against colonial rule. It is that spirit that is lacking in Nigeria now

    “When Nigeria was going to get out of colonial rule, young men and women in the East gathered together like this and called for a new revolution in the way the war against colonial rule was being prosecuted.

    “I am talking of people like Osita Agunna, who under the Zikist Movement in 1946 issued out ‘A call for Revolution.’ And that call inspired the coal miners in Enugu whose devastating strike to the heart of colonial order shook the colonialists to their very foundation. From 1949, after the coal miners’ strike, the struggle for colonial rule took a new dimension.

    “From time immemorial, this region has produced fighters for freedom and liberty that sprang from young people who had a vision of freedom, people like Monkwugo Okoye, these are people who fought for the independence of this country.”

  • Olawepo-Hashim: ANN is third force

    Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim is a presidential aspirant on the platform of the Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN), which recently held its first national convention in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). He spoke with reporters on his ambition and why Nigerians should vote for his party in next year’s elections. Group Political Editor EMMANUEL OLADESU was there..

    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 seven percent that we have for about 15 years until 2015 was not a good enough number to grow Nigeria out of poverty. We need 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.

    You were the Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the PDP at its inceptiion. Why did you dump the party.

    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. 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.

    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. So, 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 disorganized 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.

    Today, you are contesting from the FCT. Why?

    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.

    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.

    What is this programme or the ideology of the ANN that you 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, 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 fowled 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.

    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.

    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. 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.

    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.

    Do you see your ambition being hampered in one way or the other by the so called issues of politics, which you called shenanigans of politics, zoning, ethnicity, which appear still widespread right now?

    I don’t see how my ambition is limited by that. If anything at all, I think Nigerians want a truly Nigerian President. So I don’t see how that limits me. It only helps in a period of great division. Nigerians need at this point a President that will be 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.

    ENDS

     

  • I’ll stop killings if elected president, says Olawepo-Hashim

    A PRESIDENTIAL aspirant, Mr. Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, has promised to end killings, if elected as President.

    Olawepo-Hashim, who is seeking the ticket of the Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN), spoke at the Middle Belt Conference organised by the Middle Belt Forum (MBF) in Makurdi, Benue State Capital, on Monday.

    Condemning the killings, especially in the middle belt, he said the All Progressives Congress (APC) lacks the political will to stop the killings.

    He said: “The Middle Belt is the land of the people that were neither conquered nor enslaved.

    “It is too late in the day for Nigeria’s democracy to be subjugated. I want to assure you that like my brothers have said, this is not a personal ambition, it is a struggle to save Nigeria from imminent fascism.”

    He assured Nigerians that his government would fix the nation’s economy, create enabling environment for business to flourish and create jobs for the benefit of all and sundry.

    Another presidential aspirant, Prof. Iyorwuese Hagher said many Nigerians from the region “are eminently qualified to become the next president of this country”.

    Former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Deputy Governor Obadiah Mailafia, said: “We are all going to work together because we are brothers and sisters, the race is not about me, it is not a must, it is about our people, their long suffering and the destiny of this nation. What kind of leadership do we want? What kind of transformation do we want?

    “My vision is of a country that will be competing with Germany not South Africa or Brazil. A very advanced technological society based on the rule of law, based on democracy and socio justice.”

     

     

     

  • 2019: I will stop incessant killings – Olawepo-Hashim

    A presidential hopeful under the platform of the Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN), Mr. Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim has promised to halt incessant killings bedeviling major parts of the country if elected to govern the country.

     

    He gave this assurance while addressing the Middle Belt Conference organized by the Middle Belt Forum (MBF) with the theme: “Restructuring Nigeria and Reawakening: The Position of the Middle Belt,” held in IBB Square, Makurdi, Benue State capital.

     

    Olawepo-Hashim, who condemned the current onslaught by killer herders, especially in the Middle Belt region, however, said the current leadership led by All Progressives Congress (APC) lacks political will to stop the killings, hence the need to change the current leadership.

     

    He said his mission was to rescue Nigerians from abject poverty, create jobs for the teeming Nigerians, particularly youths and ensure availability of social amenities which will have direct benefit to the entire populace.

     

    According to him, his quest for office is a struggle to save Nigeria from an inefficient leadership that has made poverty to be the hallmark of our people. “It is a struggle to build a new Nigeria, a struggle to give jobs back to our youths that have nothing to do on daily basis.”

     

    “Middle Belt, the land of the people that were never conquered nor enslaved. I am delighted and grateful to God for this important gathering of these free people whose freedom had been put to question in a very barbaric manner under a democracy.

     

    “It is too late in the day for Nigeria’s democracy to be subjugated. I want to assure you that like my brothers have said, this is not a personal ambition, it is a struggle to save Nigeria from imminent fascism,” he declared.

     

    He therefore assured Nigerians that his government would fix the nation’s economy, create enabling environment for business to flourish and create jobs for the benefit of all and sundry.

     

    Another presidential aspirant, Professor Iyorwuese Hagher said many Nigerians from the region are eminently qualified to become the next president of this country.

     

    According to him, “we have very highly qualified leaders in this region who can become the president of this nation. If I become the president of this country, there will be peace, equity, quality, progress and Nigeria will be greater.”

     

    In his own speech, the Former Deputy Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), who is also another aspirant, Dr Obadiah Mailafia said the race was not a do or die affair and whoever emerges among the contestants would be supported during the forthcoming presidential election.

     

    “We are all going to work together because we are brothers and sisters, the race is not about me, it is not a must, it is about our people, their long suffering and the destiny of this nation. What kind of leadership do we want? What kind of transformation do we want?

     

    “My vision is of a country that will be competing with Germany not South Africa or Brazil. A very advanced technological society based on the rule of law, based on democracy and socio justice.

     

    “This is what I believe in. I believe in good government and I believe in servant leadership, this country must not continue like this, it may collapse, so let us work for a collation of patriots not only from the Middle Belt but through South and the North extent of this nation, he pleaded.

     

  • Middle Belt shorlists Olawepo-Hashim, Gana, Jang, Mailafia for 2019

    Frontline businessman, Mr. Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, was prominent amongst four presidential aspirants shortlisted by the influential Middle-Belt Forum for the 2019 presidential election.

    Olawepo-Hashim was named alongside 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, amongst a dozen candidates that went through the rigorous screening.

    Chaired by Air Commodore Dan Suleiman, the panel reportedly shortlisted Olawepo-Hashim, the youngest amongst 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 Peoples 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 nine 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.

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

    The other candidates from the Middle-Belt who made the list of four were noted for also being formidable, given their respective pedigrees as minister and experienced politician (Prof. Jerry Gana); a former state chief executive (Senator Jang); and a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank providing a good ground for understanding the economy, even though lesser known in politics (Dr. Mailafia). The four are to be presented to leaders in other geo-political regions, including the South-East, the South-West, amongst others for their inputs.

    Aside Commodore Dan Suleiman, who is former military administrator and one- time Nigerian envoy to Russia, other personalities on the screening panel include 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. Wilberfore Juta, former Governor of old Kwara State, Chief Cornelius Adebayo, Mr. Sam Ada Maagbe and Chief John Odakun.

    The Middle-Belt region is an important section in the determination of the nation’s presid