A Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential hopeful, Dr Gbenga OlawepoHashim, has intensified consultations ahead of the 2027 general election, holding separate high-level meetings with former President Olusegun Obasanjo and former Military President, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida.
The meetings are part of the former presidential candidate’s ongoing nationwide engagements with elder statesmen and key national figures to discuss the future direction of Nigeria and it was gathered that Olwepo-Hashim assured both former leaders of his capacity to tackle Nigeria’s security challenges, rebuild national unity, stabilise the polity, and restore economic prosperity. He reportedly stressed that Nigeria urgently needs purposeful, inclusive, and unifying leadership to avert deeper national fractures.
Both Obasanjo and Babangida, though non-partisan, are widely regarded as influential elder statesmen, who remain deeply devoted in Nigeria’s unity and stability, having played defining roles in the country’s political and military history. During the Minna meeting, OlawepoHashim commended Babangida’s historic role in preserving Nigeria’s unity, referencing the sacrifices made during the civil war. “General, you still carry in your body the wounds of the war fought to keep Nigeria one.
Many of your colleagues were not fortunate to survive that struggle. If Nigeria is allowed to disintegrate today through incompetent leadership, then the sacrifices of patriots like you would have been wasted,” he was quoted as saying. The PDP presidential hopeful emphasised that the 2027 election must be centred on national rescue, warning that continued leadership failure could further endanger the country’s cohesion and stability.
While political observers view the consultations as a strategic move by Olawepo-Hashim to position himself as a national consensus-building figure ahead of what is expected to be a highly consequential 2027 presidential election, Olawepo-Hashim, has declared that he is not intimidated by either legal or political manoeuvres aimed at weakening the PDP. He insisted that Nigeria’s multiparty democracy is too deeply rooted to be destroyed and that no individual or party can monopolise power.
According to him, Nigeria has historically embraced pluralism as a tool for managing its diversity, noting that the nation’s founding fathers deliberately chose a multiparty system at independence. “Nigeria has always been committed to multiparty democracy. Even in the First Republic, political power was never concentrated in the hands of one man or one party,” he said.
He recalled that despite the towering influence of Sir Ahmadu Bello as leader of the Northern People’s Congress, other political forces such as Aminu Kano’s Northern Elements Progressive Union (NEPU), Joseph Tarka’s Middle Belt Congress and Sir Kashim Ibrahim’s Borno People’s Union coexisted with significant influence and representation.
The PDP chieftain also noted that similar political diversity thrived in the South West, where the Action Group competed with the r National Convention of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC), alongside regional parties such as the Ibadan People’s Party.
