A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, has joined the presidential race.
In his declaration on Tuesday, he assured his supporters that he will purchase his nomination form on Thursday at the party secretariat in Abuja.
The former presidential candidate in the 2019 election explained that the “current political trajectory of the country is dim and dark as deep ethnic cleavages and bigotry have dominated the landscape accentuating the crises undermining any initiative for a cohesive national redemption.”
“The culprit for this immediate state of affairs are the dominant elite of Nigeria across party lines whose raison d’eter has been self-interest and personal aggrandizement especially in the past twenty-four years after the unfortunate decades of military rule.”
The former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) member added that his pursuit of the presidential seat is not an ambition but a historic burden. He also stated that the burden had been on him from his late teens as an activist and his commitment to the struggle for the social and economic development of Nigeria, including for democratic rule.
“There is nothing Nigerians cannot achieve with the right environment and support. I am out to give the leadership to create that environment” while promising that his “plan to build a new Nigeria as encapsulated in a 50-point agenda will be publicly presented soon by the Grace of God.”
He joins Vice President Yemi Osinbajo; APC National Leader, Bola Ahmed Tinubu; Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State, Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi; Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige; Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State and other aspirants in the race for the party’s ticket.
