Incumbent president and All Progressives Congress, (APC) presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari and his main rival, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP),.Alhaji Atiku Abubakar shunned the much publicised debate held yesterday at the Congress Hall of Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja.
The PDP presidential candidate who flew into the country from the United States had given hint that he would not partook in the event in the absence of President Muhammadu.
Tribune Online checks revealed that the former vice-president was actually at the venue of the programme but took his exit when there was no signal that President Buhari would appear.
Those who showed up for the debates were candidates of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria, Oby Ezekwesili; Alliance for New Nigeria, Fela Durotoye; and the Young Progressives Party, Kingsley Moghalu.
Atiku’s presence was confirmed by the moderator of the programme, Mark Sugar, who told the gathering
that “the PDP candidate, Atiku Abubakar came, he was in the hall but decided not to appear.”
In a press statement released last night, the PDP presidential candidate said he took the decision not to participate in the debate having been convinced that the APC candidate was nowhere near the venue of the important programme.
In the statement he personally signed titled, “Why I didn’t participate in the presidential debate, ” the former vice -president declared premised his action on the absence of President Buhari.
Alhaji Abubakar further noted that the programme was not only meant for the presidential candidates to tell Nigerians their blueprint, but more importantly, interrogate, the policies of the present administration
His statement read in part: ” We came here for a Presidential debate, not a candidacy debate, and I, Atiku Abubakar can not challenge or question an administration where the man at the helm of the affairs of the nation is not present to defend himself or his policies. After all you cannot shave a man’s head in his absence.
I do not believe in attacking a man who is NOT here to defend himself. As a leader and former vice president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, let me first apologise to all Nigerians, my fellow candidates and the moderator for the the APC Presidential Candidate’s absence in this debate. His non-appearance is a slight on all of us and our democracy.
“Secondly, with all due respect to my fellow candidates, Fela Durotoye, Oby Ezekwesili, Kingsley Moghalu and to the moderator Mark Sugar and with apologies to all Nigerians here and at home expecting an interesting debate, I regret that I will not be able to go on with this debate due to President Buhari’s absence.
“I however challenge President Buhari to choose a date and time for a debate where he will be present and I will be there, hopefully with the other candidates as well.
“Thank you and God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
Also, spokesperson of the Buhari presidential campaign organisation, Festus Keyamo, (SAN) however justified the absence of his principal at the event.
In a statement last night, Keyamo claimed that the timing of the programme which has been fixed for over a month clashed with the campaign schedules of President Buhari. He also declared that President Buhari has taken full advantage of another town-hall meeting organized by another group which held on Wednesday, January 16, 2019.
Keyamo’s statement read in part: “The President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, who is also the APC Presidential Candidate in the forthcoming Presidential Election, President Muhammadu Buhari, could not attend the Presidential Debate organised by the Nigeria Election Debate Group and the Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria which held today, Saturday, January 19, 2019 for the following reasons:
Firstly, out of several opportunities afforded our candidate to interact with the Nigerian people directly by different organisations, our presidential candidate has taken full advantage of another town-hall meeting organized by another group which held on Wednesday, January 16, 2019. He was also joined at that town-hall meeting by our Vice-Presidential candidate who is also the Vice-President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, SAN. Nigerians from all walks of life who were physically present and through on-line platforms asked uncensored questions which were adequately answered. It was also transmitted live by various broadcast networks in Nigeria.
In addition, the busy and hectic official and campaign schedules of Mr. President clashed with this programme. Today, Mr. President commissioned the Baro Inland Water Port in Niger State and campaigned in Niger and Plateau States where his time was over-stretched by the tumultuous and mammoth crowds in both States, (as seen by Nigerians on live television) and only returned to Abuja late this evening.
Whilst we thank the organisers for the invitation, we want to assure Nigerians that we shall continue to hold these debate groups and Nigerians in high esteem which our candidate has demonstrated during past election debates when he honoured similar invitations. Nigerians will also recall that a few weeks ago, our Vice-Presidential candidate, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, also attended the debate organized by the same organisations.”
Speaking during the debate, candidate of the Young Progressives Party, (YPP), Professor Moghalu said Nigeria must get its politics right before fixing the economy.
He said: ” Let us first understand that we can’t fix the economy, if we don’t fix our politics. Our economy can never grow for as long as we are led by the incumbent incompetent, visionless recycled and arrogant old politicians that have run this country economy into the ground, seeking another four years of poverty for us.
So, let us first understand that the path for fixing Nigeria economy will depend on who becomes president in 2019. The first order of business is to elect a president who understands how to manage economy.
My government will fix the econony by taking the approach that i will just spell out very quickly. The problem that we need to solve is that we don’t have an economic philosophy. We will have to decide, whether we are a capitalist country or socialist country or if we are for capitalism, what type of capitalism we are practising.”
Moghalu promised to reform the educational system, ensure that our young people have skills that can make them competitive in the 21st century and the skills that can give them jobs or help them create their own jobs.”
Candidate of the ANN, Fela Durotoye said his target would be to develop the most three important sectors which he listed as agriculture, housing construction, and road construction.
He noted that “60 percent of Nigeria labour force are engaged in agriculture but yet only 35 percent of our arable land is being used. We must drive aggressively, land use for agriculture to 50 percent and that will create for us, about 30 million people altogether into the labour force. ”
Durotoye promised to “reduce cost of governance, reform civil service institutions to ensure that they deliver, create job and reorientate our people that paying taxes isn’t just an obligation but just to ensure that government continues to function and deliver.
Former Education Minister and presidential candidate of ACPN, Oby Ezekwesili, said her plan was”to lift at least 80 million Nigerians out of poverty. The way that we plan to do this is that when you look at Nigerians who are poor, it is very clear that they are poor because they earn below N700 per day. What therefore needs to happen is that over 60 percent of them would need to improve their productivity. When people have higher productivity, they earn more. When they earn more, they lift themselves out of poverty.”
and then