2027: PDP unity won't be extinguished by political rascals

Former presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr. Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, has assured that the party will not be divided by political rascals who manipulate the country’s ethnic fault lines.

The PDP chieftain, who spoke at an interaction with senior media executives in Lagos during the weekend, said he would stay focused on issues that unite rather than divide the nation amid the reactions trailing the party’s zoning decision to the south.

Olawepo-Hashim stated, “Despite the fact that Nigeria’s electorates have demonstrated over and over again that they care less about where a leader comes from, a new tribe of political opportunists continue to distract the nation and the polity from clear issues of economic development and security, which is the urgent concern of most Nigerians, whether they are Northerners or Southerners.

“We, on our part, shall continue to rally the Nation around issues that unite us rather than issues that divide us.

“Commitment to National Unity was what defined the politics of the Founding Fathers of our Nation. That was why Dr Herbert Macaulay, a Yoruba man, could hand over NCNC to Dr Nnamdi Azikwe, a Nigerian of Igbo descent.

“That was why Chief Obafemi Awolowo could rally support for Ernest Ikoli, an Ijaw man in Lagos, during the Western regional election as against the aspiration of a fellow Ijebu man, Sam Akinsanya, for the presidency of the Nigerian Youth Movement/Lagos Legislative Council.

“It was the same spirit of commitment to national unity that was demonstrated when the legendary Joseph Tarka, the political leader of the Tiv nation, rallied behind Kashim Ibrahim, a Kanuri Muslim man, to win the Gboko constituency, a Christian Tiv-dominated constituency, during the Northern regional election in the First Republic.

“The great people of Kano voted massively for Chief M.K.O. Abiola against a bona fide and accomplished indigene of Kano, Alhaji Bashir Tofa, in the June 12 1993, Presidential elections.

“we draw our inspiration from the noble spirit of commitment to National Unity passed down by our heroes past, we shall not allow the lit flame of Unity in diversity to be extinguished by the activities of some political rascals polluting the polity with the filthy lucre that they have gathered from the public till.

“On our part, we shall endeavour to amplify the best in us, not our worst.”