Former presidential candidate Dr. Gbenga Hashim has declared that he remains undaunted by legal or political manoeuvres aimed at weakening the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), insisting that Nigeria’s multiparty democracy is too deeply rooted to be undermined.
In a strongly worded statement, Hashim said he was unfazed by what he described as legal and political subterfuges allegedly sponsored by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), stressing that no individual or party can monopolise power in Nigeria.
“Nigeria has always been committed to multiparty democracy,” Hashim said. “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, leader of the Northern People’s Congress, other political forces such as Aminu Kano’s NEPU, J.S. Tarka’s Middle Belt Congress, and Sir Kashim Ibrahim’s Borno People’s Union coexisted with significant influence and representation.
Hashim also highlighted the political diversity in the South West, where the Action Group competed with the NCNC alongside regional parties like the Ibadan People’s Party.
“Our democracy has never been a system with a single star shining in its firmament,” he said. “In our sky, there are thousands of stars.”
Drawing lessons from history, Hashim compared 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 across all five registered parties at the time.
“We are living witnesses to the failure of that plot,” he said, warning that although today’s situation carries “a more sinister twist,” the outcome would be no different.
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.”
Hashim also recalled his personal role 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 expensive drinks in foreign embassies,” he said.
He revealed that he was part of the internal resistance delegation present at Fort IBB on 8 June 1998, during a critical moment in Nigeria’s history, even as heavy military movements threatened the nation’s future.
Concluding, Hashim expressed firm belief that history would repeat itself.
“The same God who 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 said.