The National Chairman of the PDP, Prince Uche Secondus, has said that Nigerians must insist that the presidential candidates must engage in a debate before the conduct of the 2019 election.
He, therefore, asked President Buhari to be prepared to partake in the debate which he said would afford Nigerians the opportunity to hear from all the candidates and then compare their abilities and potential.
He said, “Presidential debates are used to judge the ability of the candidates to perform in office. Body language has no role in what candidates will do while in office.
“President Muhammadu Buhari is the incumbent President. It is an advantage for him to tell Nigerians what he has done in the past four years or so.
“He will tell them the roads he has started and finished, the airport he has built, the security he has provided, jobs he has created and what he has done to secure the naira against the dollar and so on and so forth.
“So, he should get prepared. Nigerians must insist that whoever wants to lead them must be ready to debate with one another. We don’t need accidental leaders and unprepared Presidents anymore.
“Debates afford candidates to sell themselves to the voters. Any candidate that runs away from the debate has failed from the beginning.”
We won’t force him, says APC
But the Spokesperson for the ruling APC, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, told Saturday PUNCH on Friday that the party would not force whoever emerges as its presidential candidate to go for any debate.
He also described such debates as not compulsory.
He said the ruling party didn’t “have a candidate yet” and that it would allow the eventual candidate’s campaign office to decide on the matter.
He said, “The presidential campaign will decide on that (if to take part in a presidential debate or not), not the party.
“If we get a letter of invitation, the party will sit down with the campaign organisation and look at it. There is nothing in the campaign rule that says you (as a candidate) must do it.
“You have to look at it strategically. It has to be part of your own strategy whether to do it or not.”
We can’t say if President will debate or not – Buhari Presidential Campaign Organisation
The Spokesperson for the Buhari Presidential Campaign Organisation, Mr. Festus Keyamo (SAN), said that he was also not capable to speak on whether Buhari would take part in a presidential debate or not.
He said that the campaign group had yet to take a decision on the issue.
“I will not be in a position to make any commitment on that. This is because as a team, we have yet to sit down to look at it. I’m not mandated to speak on it,” he said.
Source: Punch