Barely one week after his withdrawal from the presidential race, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, on Wednesday, said that any aspirant that should be fielded by the party for the 2023 elections “must commit to the formation of a Government of National Unity.”
His suggestion came some days after the national chairman of the APC, Abdullahi Adamu, promised that the party would present its finest candidates ahead of the 2023 general election.
The PUNCH reported that over 20 aspirants were currently waiting to bear the flag of the APC in the presidential contest.
Olawepo-Hashim in a statement maintained that the Government of National Unity must be made up of credible Nigerians to unite the country.
According to him, the government must also be tasked to “secure the nation and bring immediate relief to our suffering people whose welfare have been battered due to the energy crises coming just at the heels of economic crises occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic.”
He said that as of today, Nigeria was technically at war on multiple fronts and the solution requires “a patriotic, and non-partisan approach to navigate its current existential crises, as it happened during and after the Nigerian civil war in 1970.”
Olawepo-Hashim said, “Aside from the post-civil war experiment, the GNU option also gained traction during the crises that trailed the annulment of the June 12, 1993, presidential election, when pro-democracy groups called on the winner of the election to form an inclusive unity government to navigate the nation out of the impasse.”
He noted that during its meeting at Isanya-Ogbo, Ogun State, leaders of the Pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, equally reiterated the call for a GNU arrangement ahead of the 2023 general election, saying it would help tackle the insecurity problems in the country and “midwife a new democratic government.”
While withdrawing from the 2023 presidential race, Olawepo-Hashim had said he hoped that the APC would still be able to find a candidate for the 2023 elections that would unite and secure Nigeria.
“One that will lead an inclusive government and build a prosperous economy that will not leave anyone behind,” he said.
He said that his decision to contest in the first instance “was to offer a national platform for progressive forces who believe in the necessity and possibility of a new Nigeria, capable of securing itself from internal and external threats, and bring prosperity to all her people.”
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