Olawepo-Hashim: Consensus is Not Strange to Democracy
Nseobong Okon-Ekong spoke with Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, a former presidential candidate and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on the sidelines of the party’s recent national convention
Finally, the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Congress is here after a lot of apprehension. We had so many chairmanship candidates who stepped down at the last minute for a consensus candidate, how difficult was it to get them to concede?
Most of the members of party want to see a successful convention. That is the only way in which the party can cure some of its deficiencies that the absence of a full operation of the party would have imposed on it. This could be some kind of albatross in the future, so when you have a successful national convention, having the supreme organ of the party gather to ratify the power, to energize the various organs, structures, policy decisions that have been taken; the national convention is the highest organ of the party. This motivation is what has made members to say let us have a national convention first. If you have a party, there are many things that members of the party can aspire to, but if there is no party, then everybody’s interest is jeorpadised, I think it is the love of the party more than anything else that has made the chairmanship aspirants agree to a consensus.
Do you think there are no ill-feelings harboured in the heart of these people; that they only conceded out of respect to Mr. President?
This is a democracy. You will not have 100 percent of people agreeing to a decision. All we need is a substantial majority, but whether the minority are less than two percent, it is always good to give people the opportunity to compete. I think that in subsequent processes rather than this convention that we needed to do today. We really needed to do it today. Most of the processes of the party would have reached the ability to give a chance to all contending interests to have a level playing field so that all contending interests will have an opportunity to ventilate themselves. You saw what we had at the Lagos convention that produced President Buhari as a candidate of the APC. You had Alhaji Atiku, himself a veteran contender for that position. He participated from the North-east. You had Rochas Okorocha, a veteran of several presidential contests. He came out from South-east. You had our friend, late Sam Nda-Isaiah, Publisher of Leadership Newspapers. He participated from North-central in the convention. At the end of the day, everybody had a sense of satisfaction that they participated. They competed and they were given a chance to be what they wanted to be. They were happy to respect the final result. I believe this is still the only way for us as a party to be able to go united to the general election. The next series of processes when you have a full operation of the party, I will expect that this process of consensus building that is based on voluntariness and a fair competition be allowed to dominate the affairs of the party
Do you think that party has enough time to carry out meaningful reconciliation before the general election?
Reconciliation is an ongoing process . I am sure that the talk has already started. I don’t see anyone in the party that will have a sense of entitlement. Once you have a sense of entitlement you will feel bitter and injured. Nobody can do anything about that. There will be people who feel this position belongs to me. There is nothing you do about that. Such people will be difficult to reconcile. You better focus on what other things you can do. I am qualified just the way you are qualified for a position, if you feel this way, your reaction is likely to be measured.
Do you expect that the presidential primary will be decided by consensus, as well?
Whether it is consensus or whatever mechanism, there is none of it that is strange to democracy. What is important is that it should not be forced. It should not be imposed. Let every interest compete and let candidates negotiate among themselves to reach that consensus. I am not afraid of a consensus arrangement and I don’t think it is strange to democracy. But it must be through the principle of voluntary participation in the process in such a way that no one is seen to have been cheated out of the process. This is key. This is important.
