A chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, has counselled that any aspirant put forward as the presidential candidate of the party must commit to the formation of a Government of National Unity (GNU).
This is coming some days after the National Chairman of the party, Abdullahi Adamu promised that the party would field its finest candidates ahead of the 2023 general elections.
About 25 aspirants are currently vying for the APC presidential ticket.
In a statement by his media office in Abuja, yesterday, Olawepo-Hashim maintained that government of national unity must be made up of credible Nigerians to unite the country.
He said the government must also be tasked to “secure the nation and bring immediate relief to our suffering people whose welfare have been battered due to the energy crises coming just at the heels of economic crises occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic.”
He said as of today, Nigeria is technically at war on multiple fronts and the solution requires “a patriotic, and non-partisan approach to navigate its current existential crises, as it happened during and after the Nigeria civil war in 1970.”
Aside the post-civil war experiment, the GNU option also gained traction during the crises that trailed the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, when pro-democracy groups called on the winner of the election to form an inclusive unity government to navigate the nation out the impasse.
Last Wednesday, at its meeting at Isanya-Ogbo, Ogun State, leaders of Afenifere, the Pan-Yoruba socio-political group, equally reiterated the call for a GNU arrangement ahead of the 2023 general elections saying it would help tackle the insecurity problems in the country and “midwife a new democratic government.”