A chieftain of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC), Mr. Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim has counselled that any aspirant deserving of its presidential ticket must commit to the formation of a Government of National Unity (GNU).
This is coming just days after its National Chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu promised that the party would field its finest candidates ahead of the 2023 general elections. About 25 aspirants are waiting on the screen track to bear the flag of the party in next February’s presidential contest.
In a statement by his media office in Abuja on Wednesday, Olawepo-Hashim said that the GNU must be made up of credible Nigerians to unite the country.
He added that 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.”
According to him, Nigeria is 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 Nigeria civil war in 1970″.
Aside the post-civil war experiment, the GNU option also gained traction during the crises that trailed the annulment of the12th June 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 the impasse.
Last Wednesday, at its meeting at Isanya-Ogbo, Ogun State, leaders of the Afenifere, a pan-Yoruba socio-political group, equally reiterated the call for a GNU ahead of the 2023 general elections, saying it would help tackle the insecurity problems in the country and “midwife a new democratic government.”
While withdrawing from the 2023 presidential race last Friday, Olawepo-Hashim, said “he hope our party will still be able to find a candidate for the 2023 election that will unite and secure our country, one that will lead an inclusive government, and build a prosperous economy that will not leave anyone behind”.
He noted 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”.
