2023 presidency: Rotation is divisive, says Olawepo-Hashim

By Emmanuel Oladesu

Businessman and presidential candidate in last year’s general elections Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim Tuesday said that rotation of the presidency in 2023 would be counter-productive to the polity.

He said rotation will not foster national unity and development, adding that the country needs a good president from any region who is prepared and capable of promoting socio-economic development.

The former presidential candidate said those who want power must construct a national platform and build a national consensus behind their programme.

Olawepo-Hashim said in a statement in Abuja that Nigeria needed a president that will unite the country, secure it and transform its economy from an under-developed economy to a modern productive economy.

The business mogul maintained that the envisaged president “should not be based on tribe, religion or region, but on an ability to support the all-round social and economic development and provide sustainable employment for Nigeria’s massively unemployed hands.”

Olawepo-Hashim stressed that “Nigerians from every corner are always ready to vote for a good president when they see one,” recalling that without any zoning in 1993, the late Chief Moshood Abiola got votes from Kano against Alhaji Bashir Tofa, his main opponent, who hails from Kano.

He also recalled that in 1999, “despite the fact that President Olusegun Obasanjo’s home base, the Southwest, did not vote for him, he still became president, based on of votes from the six regions.

Olawepo-Hashim said: “The talk of zoning of the Presidency is, therefore, a false narrative, divisive and inimical to national development.”

He noted that the notion of ” it is our turn president” makes leaders to become escape accountability because when he is questioned, the so-called ethnic base and constituents would gather to say ‘you cannot touch our man because it is our turn.”

Olawepo-Hashim added: “This phenomenon is dangerous for national unity, cohesion and national development, and more importantly, the rotating president is a pedestrian diversion from the current subject of devolution and decentralization of power from the over-centralized centre to the federating states in Nigeria.

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“Nigeria would not just become a just and equitable federation, simply because a Southerner is exercising the over blotted power at the centre.

“It will be more equitable and efficient when the powers are devolved more to the states, regardless of who occupies the office of the President.

“Most of the people talking of how Obasanjo, a Southerner became president 1999, were not there in the PDP. They are oversimplifying issues. I was one of the conveners of the PDP in 1998. I know the proper context for what was done. It was not as if other people from other zones did not contest against Obasanjo. Alhaji Rimi contested against him in 1999 from Kano; also Dr.Alex Ekwueme.

“In 2003, Chief Barnabas Gemade from the North contested against President Obasanjo. Ditto for Buhari in 2015. Chief Rochas Okorocha from the Southeast contested against him.

“The emergence of any particular leader or presidential candidate at any time is usually a product of intense horse-trading, negotiations, and bargaining, not outright zoning to any particular region.”

He said those who want power must construct a national platform and build a national consensus behind their programme.