Hashim tasks Labour on saving country’s democracy
Ahead of the 2027 general elections, former presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, and some South-East leaders met with former President Goodluck Jonathan in his Abuja residence, yesterday.
 
This was as former presidential candidate and business mogul, Gbenga Hashim, called on the Nigerian Labour movement to be proactive and also play a central role in safeguarding the country’s democracy from what he described as a gradual slide towards authoritarianism.
 
Jonathan had met with President Bola Tinubu last week in Abuja, with the outcome of the meeting still under wraps.
 
The South-East leaders present included former governor of Enugu State, Dr Okwesilieze Nwodo; former governor of Imo State, Achike Udenwa; former Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Onyema Ugochukwu; and Senator Victor Umeh.
 
Obi has already indicated interest in contesting the 2027 presidential election on the platform of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
 
Addressing journalists after the meeting, Obi, who spoke for the South-East leaders, said they consulted with the former President over the next general elections.
 
He said: “Jonathan wished that we had a free, fair, credible election, that he cannot support a one-party system, and that nobody can claim to be more of a democrat in this country (in terms of those who have led this country without putting him as number one).”
He said Jonathan served the country faithfully, and he was a democrat.
 
Speaking on endorsement, Obi said: “We’re not talking about an endorsement yet. When I become a candidate, I’ll come back for endorsement. He wishes the country well. We are here to consult with him.
 
“We are now seeing him (Jonathan) in the categories we have come to see former President Olusegun Obasanjo, former President Ibrahim Babangida and others; so that is the category we are seeing
now. “

They are fathers now. They are not defecting. They are not involved. But we need to consult them, because, especially someone like him (Jonathan) who served the country very faithfully, focused, and did what is expected in a democracy in this declining situation.”

HASHIM made the call during a visit to the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajero, where he engaged him on the state of the nation and the role of workers in sustaining democratic governance.
 
He condemned the gradual slip of the nation’s democracy into a one-party state, under President Bola Tinubu.
 
According to him, the history of Nigeria’s progress cannot be separated from the sacrifices and contributions of the working class, and Labour has always been at the forefront of major political and social transformations in the country.
 
Hashim warned that “democracy risks losing its value if the welfare of citizens, particularly workers, is neglected”, urging political leaders to refocus governance on policies that improve the lives of ordinary Nigerians.