Olawepo-Hashim to Tinubu: It’s Time to Face Serious Job of Governance

Deji Elumoye in Abuja

A chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, has advised President Bola Tinubu to face the business of governance with the affirmation of his election by the Supreme Court last week.

Olawepo-Hashim, in a release issued in Abuja yesterday, while congratulating the president for the apex court verdict which validated his victory in the February 25, 2023 presidential election, urged him rescuing Nigerians from the daily grim realities they face.

The former presidential candidate explained that Tinubu, as the  one with the democratic mandate, has more work to do with the economy hit by its worst inflation in over 20 years, and with the nation’s currency devalued by 80 per cent in four months of his administration at the unofficial market.
He added that hitting the ground running now would not be enough as the president needs to fly when needed.

 “The legal challenges to the outcome of the 2023 presidential election have come and gone  rounding off with the verdict of the Supreme Court on sundry appeals on October 26, 2023. I want to congratulate President Ahmed Tinubu (GCFR) for a hard-won victory, ” he added.
He also commended former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP); presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Mr Peter Obi during the 2023 poll.

“The dogged but civil challenges mounted by the duo after the election are important contributions to our democracy and would enrich our jurisprudence.
“Both the winner and those whose petitions did not succeed at the courts must now commit themselves as leaders  to the important tasks of uniting the country, securing the nation and rescuing the economy, and improving the welfare of her people,” he said.

He added: “Before and after election, we had counselled severally that the post -Muhammadu Buhari administration must be a Government of National Unity (GNU) akin to the post civil war cabinet of Gen. Yakubu Gowon, owing to the severe fracture of the polity and the horrendous damage to the economy.”
According to him, some people in their opinion after the election had dismissed the suggestion, arguing instead that what is needed is a government of “national competence”.

“The country is now impatiently waiting to see the ‘competence’ as the people’s welfare take the turn for the worse,” he noted.
The APC chieftain also counselled that: “the opposition party which divided its rank into three and half during the build-up to the 2023 election, has a job to do if it must be relevant to Nigeria’s immediate political future.”

Olawepo-Hashim maintained that Nigeria now demands more seriousness from all political leaders as the grim realities that Nigerians confront daily is not the occasion for ‘pettiness and shoddiness.