The Nation Newspaper

Tag: PT

  • Olawepo-Hashim writes INEC, seeks further shift of polls date

    Third Force Presidential candidate running on the People’s Trust (PT) platform, Mr. Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim has written the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral, Professor Mahmoud Yakubu requesting a further extension of the Presidential and National Assembly elections.

    The Presidential hopeful argued that, the one week extension was rather too short to conclude the stated enormous logistics requirement for the polls.

    Olawepo-Hashim who lately led the online polls of most preferred candidate amongst the third force, argued in a letter to the INEC chairman that another extension was reasonable in view of the logistics burden on the contestants and the parties.

    According to him, the candidates and the parties would now have to repeat logistics preparations that have hitherto been deployed to achieve the level of mobilization at the February 16 scheduled election.

    He stressed that, “It is my considered opinion that in the haste to stick to a quickly announced date for the election, the Commission may not have paid adequate attention to the attendant voter apathy that may result if adequate confidence building measures are not implemented to win back ‘would-be’ voters for the next date of polling.

    “As a result and because a potential voter’s apathy in some section of the country or all of the country may substantially affect the results of the election, a new date of election should be between three to four weeks from February 16 not one week from February 16 as previously announced. This is more so for self-funded candidates and political parties who do not have the possibilities or intentions of falling quickly on the State treasuries to refinance another logistic deployment.” He argued

    The candidate equally opined that, campaigs should also resume undoubtedly in consonance with extant legislation that allow campaign to continue up till 24 hours before elections, in order to achieve the same level of mobilization of voters as before February 16th.

    In his letter copied to the United Nations representatives, Observer and Civil Society Groups, the diplomatic community and the media Olawepo-Hashim also urged that, “the Commission should liase with the National Orientation Agency (NOA), who should use their national networks to ensure mobilization of communities, social and interest groups to reach potential voters in order to avoid voter apathy at the next date of election.”

  • No plans to step down for Buhari, Atiku – Olawepo-Hashim

     

    The Presidential candidate of People’s Trust (PT), Mr Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, has declared he has no plans to step down for either President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) or Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP).

    Olawepo-Hashim expressed confidence the two candidates are beatable with their parties’ woeful performances since 1999.

    He lamented 70 percent of voters are undecided on their choice less than 11 days to the presidential poll.

    He called on Nigerians to support his candidacy for rapid economic development that will lift masses out of abject poverty.

    According to a statement through his media team by Hassan Ibrahim, the Presidential hopeful who spoke during campaign in Akure, the Ondo state capital advised the electorates to reject the two political parties that had failed them in the last twenty years.

    Olawepo-Hashim, who was accompanied by his Campaign Director-General and former transport minister, Mr Habu Fari, said the country was too endowed with natural resources for the citizenry to be wallowing in poverty.

    He vowed to introduce policies that would end insecurity and economic hardship if elected the president of the nation on the sixteenth of this month.

    He advised eligible voters to secure their future by voting for the party in the 2019 elections.

    Olawepo-Hashim assured Nigerians, especially youths and graduates he would create jobs and make the environment conducive for businesses to flourish.

    The presidential candidate of PT said his party was fine-tuning its strategy in all states of the federation on how to wrestle power from the ruling APC, adding that PT had the highest number of representation in constituency nominations.

    READ ALSO: Olawepo-Hashim challenges APC, PDP to debate

    According to him: “Some few days to election more than 70 percent of the electorates are still wondering who they are going to vote for.

    “They have examined the candidates they are going to vote for and what these candidates promised to offer and among all the alternative parties, the PT is the biggest.

    “But I can tell you that this election is still very open even though its ten days to the election.

    “This is one of the reasons I said if elected we will form a government of National unity which will include the good people in the APC and PDP.”

    Denying he was planning to step down, Olawepo-Hashim said: “Nigeria is a very interesting country, and I don’t know any country where other candidates are pressured to step down.

    “I think it is a coinage here because in a multi- party democracy, nobody steps down, you win some seats and on the basis of this you can form coalition based on programme after the election.

    “The presidential election is not about party but about candidates and the future of the country and the two parties have failed in that regard. But we give hope that if we come in, Nigeria will be better”.

    Fari expressed delight the people of Ondo state trooped out to receive Olawepo-Hashim, indicating that the people are ready to elect the third force which the PT candidate represented.

  • PT’s Olawepo-Hashim is most prominent candidate on social media

     

    The weekly social media rating of presidential candidates’ engagements on the popular platform, Facebook, on Wednesday showed candidate of the Peoples Trust (PT) Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim is in the lead.

    He is ahead on engagement of APC’s presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari and PDP’s Atiku Abubakar.

    Olawepo- Hashim, who overtook Buhari and Atiku on 10th December 2018, has remained on top with the highest engagement on social media for four consecutive weeks.

    Data released on Wednesday in Abuja showed Olawepo-Hashim recorded Facebook engagements in excess of 17,000 while Atiku Abubakar, who came second, recorded a little over 14,000.

    Buhari came third with engagements in excess of 3,000.

    The statistics also showed that the Presidential candidate of the Young Progressives Party (YPP), Kingsley Moghalu and the candidate of Alliance for New Nigeria(ANN) ,Fela Durotoye and other presidential candidates were trailing behind .

    Data analysts involved in the polling project said the data on each of the candidates’ were realistic because “Facebook represents the broad spectrum of voters who will vote in the February poll.”

    According to them: “Increasing engagements imply voters’ growing interest in the candidates while a decreasing result reflects voters’ disenchantment. A static return means a candidate at a crossroads in the campaign.”

    The analysts said Olawepo-Hashim’s growing engagement rating is a measure of voters’ interest in him as a third force alternative.

    “He is no longer part of the pack of third party candidates. He has moved ahead to emerge as a real alternative to Buhari and Atiku. This is a game changer from data perspective,” Segun Seriki, the lead analyst for the project, said.

    He added: “The latest data point to a major upset within the struggle for presidency, we are making the report available to all the major candidates.”

    “Our latest data reflect a major upset in the battle for the Presidency. It is no longer a two- horse race.

    “There is now a third force that is overtaking the old alternatives. We are still following the data but for now, Olawepo-Hashim has pulled the impossible to maintain a four weeks lead over President Buhari and Atiku Abubakar.”

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • PT ‘ll resist attempts to turn Nigeria into two-party state, says Olawepo-Hashim

    THE Peoples Trust (PT) will resist the attempts by some dominant political forces to turn Nigeria into a two-party state, its presidential candidate, Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, said yesterday.

    Olawepo-Hashim, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Hassan Ibrahim, said the party was aware of some subterranean moves by certain forces to strangulate the emerging political parties and turn Nigeria into a two-party state.

    The candidate of the Third Force Movement said any attempt to turn the hand of Nigeria’s democratic progress backward and curtail the fundamental rights of the people to associate freely would be resisted squarely.

    He said: “There is no democracy in the world where choices are restricted to one or two parties. Even in the United States of America, where you have two dominant parties, there is multiplicity of parties that are allowed to participate in the process.

    “The PT is the biggest of all the new political parties according to data from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and we insist on being allowed to blossom and fulfill the yearnings of the Nigerian people, who are certainly fed up with a lack of vision, passion and direction for the development of the people.

    “Many of the actors in the political scene today, who are outside the two dominant parties fought vigorously to ensure respect for fundamental rights of association of Nigerians.”

    He stated that the forces seeking to return Nigerian to a two-party state had perfected their acts through the exclusion of several emerging parties at the just concluded Vice Presidential debates held by the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON).

    He stated: “2019 will not be a choice between corruption and ineptitude. The PT is determined that despite attempts to make it look like that, the 2019 election will not be a choice between the PDP, which has been variously accused of corruption and the APC, which symbolises administrative ineptitude and economic failure.

    “The vast majority of Nigerians still continue to search for credible alternatives to the two political parties in spite of limited resources at the disposal of the multiple alternative platforms.

    “Through massive media propaganda, a gang of Nigeria’s parasitic elite, who have fed fat on the Nigerian state have tried to ensure that political clime is narrowed to the two incompetent behemoth like the APC and PDP.”

    Olawepo-Hashim added: “The PT is at the vanguard of ensuring that the Nigerian electorate gets credible alternative in 2019, as it has instituted the consolidation of various alternative platforms, even as it is daily receiving support from presidential candidates, aspirants and parties.

    “We are already seeing some propaganda items in some newspapers questioning whether we should even have more than these two parties in the country at all and advocating for a constitutional amendment to legislate the alternative platforms out of existence.

    “We want to remind the authors of such anti-democratic thoughts that the right to a pluralistic democracy was won through hard struggle and cannot be taken away by the wishful thinking of some politicians and their ilk in some corrupt media establishments.”