Hashim at 56: A life of activism, politics, service

At 56 , life goes on for the activist, politician, businessman and philantropist, who has served society through many humane platforms.

His birthday, no doubt, is a celebration of a worthwhile existence, industry, power of investment, diligence and resilience, and the art of giving, which enables him to make great impact on humanity through the extention of goodwill and duty of care to fellow human beings.

These virtues have endeared Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim to many people beyond the shores of Nigeria. During his 55th birthday last year in Barcelona,Spain, a preserved personal letter of the late President Nelson Mandela of South Africa, bought at an auction, was presented to him.

The letter invoked the memory of a contributor to the icon’s efforts at mobilising youths for a greater future in the former apartheid enclave,the letter was written in 1997.

The letter purchased at the Auction by Dr Gbenga Hashim’s friends also Mirrors his contribution to give young people a better life through education .He gave out achilarships to many as he has also empowered thousands with his digital training skills.

In 2003 Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim supported the resettlement of Liberian students in Ghana by supporting the All African Students initiative with thousands of Euros .For this and for more he was honoured with the Kwame Nkrumah leadership Award.

He was an anti-apartheid activist, an involvement that led him and three other student leaders of the university to the detention in the over-crowded Police cell in Lagos.

That was in 1987 after an anti-apartheid protest. He was again detained in September 1989 in Solitary confinement under the Security Detention of Persons Decree 2.His case and that of his colleague- Gbenga Komolafe and Gbenga Olawepo Vs Attorney General of the Federation because landmark case on Decree 2 as the Hon Justice Tajudeen Odunowo assumed Jurisdiction in Security Detention of Persons case for the first time in Nigeria.

The university authorities later seized his certificate for five years whenŕ he gratuated. He had to depend on his skills to survive. Ironically, when civil rule was restored in 1999, and he became a member of the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), his push for more democratic reforms along with other compatriots met a brickwall.

However, Olawepo-Hashim has built a reputation for greatness in the private sector and the polity, where he had canvassed an alternative route to national recovery, based on altruism and patriotism.

Ploughing back to society has been a pastime for the entrepreneur. The targets of the Gbenga Hashim Foundation are the needy in the society. Beneficiaries can testify to the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) loan in Kwara State and Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). the drainages that were constructed and the roads that were graded and riads tarred .

Olawepo-Hashim is a Global Energy Executive, former presidential candidate and founding Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the PDP.

He is chairman of Oilworld Ltd., operator of OPL 241 in the continental shelf of Nigeria as well as chairman Transnational Energy Limited, Farmee of Hely Creek and Abigborodo fields on OML 49. He is chairman of Bresson A.S. Limited, owners of the 90mw Magboro Independent Power Producing (IPP) project. He is generally acknowledged as principled and courageous.

Olawepo-Hashim started exhibiting leadership qualities from his elementary and secondary school days. In Cherubim and Seraphim College, Ilorin, he was appointed Health Prefect. He was also elected President of the Dramatic Society. At the School of Basic Studies, he was elected General Secretary of the Anti-Apartheid Association, Youth Solidarity on Southern Africa. In 1988, he was elected one of the leaders of the National Association of Nigeria Students (NANS). He was incarcerated under the Detention of Persons Decree 2 of 1984 (as amended in 1989), as a result of his leadership role in 1989 Anti-SAP protests, and his Pro-Democracy activities. The Amnesty International adopted him Prisoner of conscience for Nigeria in 1989. He was also a notable pro-democracy figure in the then Global pro-democracy resistance of the late ‘80s and a respected youth leadership voice from Africa. He played prominent role in the 13th International Festival of Youths and Students in 1989 in Pyongyang North Korea. He participated in the International Peace Trek at the Demarcation line between North and South Korea in July 1989.

In 1990, Olawepo-Hashim became the National Administrative Secretary of the National Consultative Forum, led by the indefatigable patriot and democrat extraordinaire, former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mr. Alao Aka Bashorun. The group had in its fold, the technocratic group led by Alhaji Danshida, Tayo Akpata, Philip Asiodu, etc. It also had a political group led by former Zikist activist, including Chief Kola Balogun and others like, Chief RBK Okafor, Mahmud Waziri and Alhaji Tanko Yakasai. The group was the first to advocate for devolution of power and the convocation of a national conference under the military rule.

Born in Yelwa, Yauri, Kebbi State by a Yoruba mother to a Hausa father, Olawepo-Hashim spent his early years in New-Bussa, Niger State and was raised in the family of his step-father. A Christian, he attended NEPA Junior Staff School, New Bussa; Cherubim and Seraphim College, Ilorin; School of Basic Studies, Ilorin; University of Lagos and University of Buckingham, United Kingdom, where he obtained a Masters Degree in Global Affairs and was best student in his cohort, securing the Max Bellof Prize for Global Affairs. He was also the first student to obtain a distinction in the department course – History of the international systems.

In a letter of commendation to Gbenga on the Max Bellof prize he won, the chairman of the International Studies Degree Programmes, M.J.M. Crostie wrote: “It is always pleasant to dwell on success and you should make a point of mentioning the prize in your curriculum vitae because it is this sort of distinction that will set you apart from other candidates.” He has also received training in International Petroleum Management at the International Human Resources Development Centre – Boston Massachuset, United States.

His mentors in partisan politics were the late Chief Solomon Lar and Alhaji Abubakar Rimi. He had at a time functioned as the National Publicity Secretary of the National Democratic Party, under the joint

chairmanship of Ambassador Jolly Tanko Yusuf and Alhaji Yunusa Kaltungo. In 1998, working closely under the supervision of Professor Jerry Gana (Secretary), Olawepo-Hashim and two other young political leaders – the late Senator Dahiru Ahwesu Khuta (Administration) and Dubem Onyia (Organization)helped in the years of the G-34 initiative for the formation of political parties at the group’s secretariat.

After the election of President Olusegun Obasanjo in 1999, in the intervening transitional period, Olawepo-Hashim served as member/Secretary Youth and Women Development Sub-Committee of the General T.Y. Danjuma Policy Advisory Committee with Late Hajia Laila Dogonyaro as chairman of the Youth and Women Sub-committee.

In 1999, he was elected as the first Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the then ruling Party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He was a highly influential national officer and became the founding chairman of the Group of 54 NEC members. The group had His Excellency, Dr. Chris Ngige as Secretary and Alhaji Ahmed Gusau, former Minister of Mines, as Deputy chairman.

He was known for his commitment to the principle of internal democracy in the party, transparency and good governance. As a national officer, he spoke truth to power then at great risks.

On Olawepo-Hashim’s courage, deep patriotism, and selflessness, the late Chief Ojo Maduekwe, former Nigerian Foreign affairs Minister and Nigerian High Commissioner to Canada, said at a reception in 2005:“The lives of people like Gbenga should inspire us to speak well of ourselves. Olawepo-Hashim is an inner driven person, not afraid to stand alone, not afraid to be unpopular, not afraid to hold a view.

” A man who is inner driven, listens to the music of his own universe, listens to the applause of the spirit inside that have etched out an horizon, which he must conquer and moving in that direction; he takes the lead and others follow. Who can see the horizon with him, of such is the stuff of history, of such is the stuff of greatness.”

Olawepo-Hashim was appointed in 2003 as a member of the Political Advisory Committee to the President (In the office of the Political Adviser.) He resigned from PDP in 2006. He was one of the founders of the Democratic People’s Party(DPP).He was a member of the party’s national caucus and governorship candidate Kwara State in 2007 election. The DPP did well in Kwara in 2007 as well as in Delta, Sokoto and Plateau States.
A bridge builder and completely detribalised, charismatic and excellent negotiator, Olawepo-Hashim’ experience and deep roots in popular organisation’s and the broad political sphere will be useful in formulating a national consensus for Nigeria and Unity at a time of great division. His understanding of political economy and the global architecture of international finance will also be invaluable for an economy that desperately needs growth and development and a people that urgently need prosperity.

Olawepo-Hashim has many honours, including The Kwame Nkrumah African Leadership Award conferred by the continental student body – All African Student Union, at Accra Ghana in 2003; The Veteran Award-in 2005 by the International Union of Students and World Federation of Democratic Youths, (WFDY). He has also received the 2000 Nigerian Union of Journalist Award for Professional Excellence. He is a fellow of the Institute of Corporate Administration.

Ahonkhai is a Lagos- based human rights activist