By Ayo Ayodele
Former presidential candidate and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential hopeful, Dr. Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, has intensified consultations ahead of the 2027 general election, holding separate high-level meetings with former President Olusegun Obasanjo and former Military President, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (rtd.).
The closed-door meetings, held on Monday, are part of Dr. Hashim’s ongoing nationwide engagements with elder statesmen and key national figures to discuss the future direction of Nigeria.
Sources familiar with the consultations said Dr. Hashim assured both former leaders of his capacity to tackle Nigeria’s security challenges, rebuild national unity, stabilise the polity, and restore economic prosperity.
He also stressed that Nigeria urgently needs purposeful, inclusive, and unifying leadership to avert deeper national fractures.
Both Obasanjo and Babangida, though non-partisan, are widely regarded as influential elder statesmen who remain deeply invested in Nigeria’s unity and stability, having played defining roles in the country’s political and military history.
Dr. Hashim arrived at President Obasanjo’s residence in Abeokuta at about 11:00 a.m. and departed roughly an hour later. He subsequently travelled to Minna, where he met with General Babangida aboard a Hawker 800 jet with registration number 5N-BZP.
During the Minna meeting, Dr. Hashim appealed to Babangida’s historic role in preserving Nigeria’s unity, referencing the sacrifices made during the civil war.
“General, you still carry in your body the wounds of the war fought to keep Nigeria one. Many of your colleagues were not fortunate to survive that struggle. If Nigeria is allowed to disintegrate today through incompetent leadership, then the sacrifices of patriots like you would have been wasted,” Hashim was quoted as saying.
He equally emphasised that the 2027 election must be centred on national rescue, warning that continued leadership failure could further endanger the country’s cohesion and stability.
Dr. Hashim was accompanied on the visits by the Chairman of the North Central Renaissance Movement, Professor Nghargbu K’tsɔ, as well as other aides.
Political observers view the consultations as a strategic move by Dr. Hashim to position himself as a national consensus-building figure ahead of what is expected to be a highly consequential 2027 presidential election.