A former presidential candidate and chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, has said the lingering leadership crisis rocking the party can be resolved within one week if the party’s leadership embraces political solutions rather thanlegal battles. Olawepo-Hashim made this assertion during a meeting with the PDP National Chairman, Tanimu Turaki, as part of ongoing consultations aimed at achieving an out-of-court resolution to the party’s internal dispute.
The presidential hopeful, who is among conveners of the PDP in 1998 and its first elected Deputy National Publicity Secretary, said resolving the crisis politically will better serve the survival of the party and the health of Nigeria’s multiparty democracy. According to him, the party already possesses the constitutional authority required to resolve the impasse without resorting to litigation.
“There are more than enough legitimate members of the National Executive Committee (NEC) to convene a meeting to resolve this crisis within one week,” he stated. He cited sections 3(1) and 3(4) of the PDP Constitution, which empower two-thirds of NEC members to convene a meeting, stressing that the majority of NEC members were elected before the disputed Ibadan convention and therefore retain unquestionable legitimacy.
He further explained that although the tenure of some members of the National Working Committee (NWC) expired on December 8, the pre-Ibadan NEC members remain constitutionally empowered to intervene and take corrective action in the interest of the party. “What is required now is courage and responsibility. NEC members must rise above factional interests and stand for posterity, for the party, and for the nation,” he said.
Warning that continued internal paralysis could weaken the PDP’s capacity as a credible opposition party and ultimately undermine Nigeria’s democratic balance, Olawepo-Hashim said: “We can fix this problem, and we should.” Responding, Turaki thanked Olawepo-Hashim for the visit and his commitment to party unity. He assured that the PDP leadership under his watch remains open to reconciliation, stressing however that such efforts must not compromise the unity, stability, and continued existence of the party.
Meanwhile, Olawepo-Hashim, has declared that he is not intimidated by either legal or political manoeuvres aimed at weakening the PDP, insisting that Nigeria’s multiparty democracy is too deeply rooted to be destroyed. In a strongly worded statement, the PDP chieftain said he was “not intimidated by the legal and political subterfuges sponsored by the ruling APC,” stressing that no individual or party can monopolise power in Nigeria.
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 Peoples 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 Peoples Union coexisted with significant influence and representation. Olawepo-Hashim noted that similar political diversity thrived in the South-West, where the Action Group competed with the National Convention of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC), alongside regional parties such as the Ibadan People’s Party.
“Our democracy has never been a democracy of one star flying in its firmament. In our sky are thousands of stars,” he said. Drawing lessons from history, Olawepo-Hashim likened the current political climate to the failed self-succession agenda of late military ruler, General Sani Abacha, who attempted to impose himself as the sole presidential candidate of all five registered political parties at the time.
“We are living witnesses to the failure of that plot,” he said, warning that although today’s situation carries “a more sinister twist,” the outcome would be no different. According to him, “while Abacha sought to make himself the sole candidate of all parties, the current agenda is to ensure that no major party is strong enough to field a credible candidate.”
Expressing confidence that such efforts would collapse, he added, “just as the Abacha plot ended unrealised, this infantile machination will end in disaster for its authors, by the grace of God.” He also recalled his personal involvement in the struggle against military rule, emphasising that the resistance was led from within Nigeria, not from exile.
“We fought the self-succession plot here at home, not as self-styled exiled democrats sipping cognac in foreign embassies,” he said. Concluding, the PDP chieftain expressed firm belief that history would repeat itself. “The same God who granted us the grace to witness the collapse of the Abacha plot will also help us see the end of the APCor-no-other-party agenda,” he said.
