8th October, 2021
*As Buni Says APC is Delighted to Attract Him
A former Presidential candidate and a leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Mr. Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim has urged leaders elected on the party platform to desist from using ethnic and religious sentiments to ventilate their concerns on policy matters.
In a statement released by his media office in Abuja on Friday, he advised political leaders to utilise the internal machinery of the party to ventilate their opinions and resolve their differences instead of retreating to ethnic and religious conclaves to inflame passion and division.
Olawepo-Hashim who was speaking while being received by Mai Mala Buni, the APC Caretaker Committee Chairman and Governor of Yobe State in his residence in Abuja on Thursday, recalled that it has never been the tradition in the politics of the country for leaders to be aggregating as Southern leaders or Northern leaders.
According to him, the second Republic leaders spoke as UPN or NPN, PRP or NPP, GNPP or NAP or at best Progressives versus Conservatives. “The divides were ideological, healthy and consistent with modern democratic practice. Now we need to put a stop to politicking along regional lines which is widening the gulf of divisions in the country,” he said.
Mr. Olawepo-Hashim also commended the Chairman of the APC for his efforts and the Caretaker Committee for expanding the membership base of the party.
“His Excellency, we must commend your leadership style and your efforts that has attracted many to the APC. In 1998 when I was privileged to be one of the youngest amongst great men and women that formed the then PDP, we used to take pride in the fact that we have formed the largest party in Africa but what you have done with the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari in the last one year has made the APC exceed what we did then. Being big comes with its own challenges, I pray God will give us the wisdom to handle it,” he added.
In his own remarks, the Chairman of the APC in FCT, Alhaji Abdulmalik maintained that “since February 2021 when our leader Mr. Olawepo-Hashim did what experienced politicians do by registering in Usuma ward, Bwari Area Council in FCT, he has contributed a lot with his teeming supporters. We are poised by the grace of God to win all elections in the FCT. He is a great mobilizer and loud voice for the unity of the country.”
In his own response, Governor Buni thanked Mr. Olawepo-Hashim and the delegation saying the party is delighted to attract a great leader like him into the party. ”You are not a new face to us, we respect you greatly. Do not see yourself as a new joiner in APC, you are equal now to everyone that came into APC from day one. All we have achieved is due to All mighty God and the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari(GCFR),” he said.
While thanking Olawepo-Hashim for all the contributions and your efforts in building the party in FCT, North-Central and the country at large, Governor Buni added that the APC successfully registered over 40 million members in the last registration exercise with every member’s data, PVC numbers and passport photographs.
Apart from the APC party chairman in the FCT, other members of the delegation include former House of Representative member, Hon. Zakari Angulu and former deputy Mayor of Abuja, Hon Abibakar Abaji .