PDP Chieftain Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim Disputes President Tinubu’s Role in Nigeria’s Historic Anti-Military Struggle

PDP chieftain Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim claims President Tinubu was abroad during the anti-military struggle and accuses APC of creating opposition factions.

By: AXL Media

Published: Mar 23, 2026, 4:00 AM EDT

Source: The information in this article was sourced from Politics Nigeria

Challenging the Narrative of Democratic Struggle

The historical legitimacy of Nigeria’s current leadership has come under intense scrutiny following provocative remarks from a high-ranking member of the opposition. Appearing on Channels Television’s Politics Today, Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, a chieftain of the People’s Democratic Party, dismissed claims that President Bola Tinubu was a primary figure in the domestic movement to end military dictatorship. Olawepo-Hashim argued that while foundational members of the G-34 and civil society groups were physically confronting the Abacha regime within Nigeria, the current President was residing abroad. This rhetorical intervention seeks to reframe the President’s political pedigree by contrasting his exile with the imprisonment and direct risks faced by other democratic pioneers.

Allegations of State-Sponsored Opposition Factions

Beyond historical debates, the PDP chieftain leveled serious contemporary charges against the All Progressives Congress regarding the health of Nigeria’s multi-party system. According to Olawepo-Hashim, the ruling party has adopted a strategic policy of destabilizing any opposition platform that gains significant political momentum. He claimed that whenever an individual of substantial influence joins an opposition party, the APC actively facilitates the creation of internal factions to muddle the group's activities. This tactic, he suggested, forces opposition figures into protracted legal battles, effectively draining their resources and diverting focus from national governance issues to internal survival.

The G-34 and the Risks of Domestic Resistance

To reinforce his critique of the "lazy opposition" label, Olawepo-Hashim recounted the specific dangers faced by the founders of the PDP and the G-34 group during the transition to the Fourth Republic. He noted that leaders such as Alhaji Rimi were incarcerated, while Chief Solomon Lar personally delivered high-stakes letters to the military leadership to oppose General Sani Abacha’s self-succession plans. The lawmaker emphasized that these actions were taken in the "lion’s den" of the military capital, rather than from the safety of foreign soil. By highlighting these specific acts of domestic defiance, the chieftain aimed to defend the legacy of his party’s elders against modern criticisms of political lethargy.