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From Noah Ebije, Kaduna
Former presidential candidate, Dr. Gbenga Hashim, has declared that he was not intimidated by either legal or political manoeuvres aimed at weakening the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), insisting that Nigeria’s multiparty democracy is too deeply rooted to be destroyed.
In a statement, yesterday, Hashim said he was not intimidated by the legal and political subterfuges sponsored by the ruling APC, stressing that no individual or party could monopolise power in Nigeria.
According to him, Nigeria had 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 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), J.S. Tarka’s Middle Belt Congress and Sir Kashim Ibrahim’s Borno Peoples Union coexisted with significant influence and representation.
Hashim noted that similar political diversity thrived in the South West, where the Action Group competed with the National Council of Nigeria Citizens (NCNC), alongside regional parties, such as the Ibadan Peoples Party.
“Our democracy has never been a democracy of one star flying in its firmament. In our sky are thousands of stars.”
Drawing lessons from history, 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.
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“We are living witnesses to the failure of that plot,” he said, and warned that although today’s situation carries “a more sinister twist,” the outcome would be no different.
“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,” Hashim stated.
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
He revealed that he was part of the internal resistance delegation that fought IBB on June 8, 1998, during a critical moment in Nigeria’s history, even as heavy military movements threatened the nation’s future.
He expressed firm belief that history would repeat itself.
“The same God that granted us the grace to witness the collapse of the Abacha plot will also help us see the end of the APC-or-no-other-party agenda,” he noted.
