By Daniel Kanu
Assistant Politics Editor
At last, the much awaited 2018 Presidential debate schedule has been released on Tuesday, December 11, 2018.
A statement issued by Eddi Emesiri, Executive Secretary, Nigerian Elections Debate Group (NEDG) and the Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria (BON), organisers of the event, showed that five political parties are expected to participate in the vice-presidential and presidential debates in the lead-up to the 2019 general election.
The participating political parties are the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN), All Progressives Congress (APC), People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Young Progressives Party (YPP).
The five presidential candidates of the selected parties are represented by : Oby Ezekwesili (ACPN), Fela Durotoye (ANN), Muhammadu Buhari (APC), Atiku Abubakar (PDP), and Kingsley Moghalu (YPP).
The vice-presidential debate is slated for (today) Friday, December 14, from 7 pm at the Congress Hall of Transcorp Hilton, Abuja, while the big show ( Presidential debate) is scheduled for Saturday, January 19, 2019.
Expectedly, tongues are wagging on the non-inclusion of some political parties and their presidential aspirants perceived to be enjoying some sort of political support from the masses.
Most political commentators have raised apprehension on the criteria for choosing the five political parties for the debate.
For instance, Bayo Oluwasanmi said NEDG and BON owe Nigerians some explanations on the criteria used, those that constitute members of the organising body (NEDG and BON), who funds them and their constitutional mandate among other critical issues.
Oluwasanmi, sympathetic to the African Alliance Party with Omoyele Sowore as its Presidential candidate, said: “For me, I think a lot of issues have to be cleared if we must take them seriously. NEDG and BON owe Nigerians some explanations: Who and who constitute the members of NEDG and BON?
“ What’s the constitutional mandate given to NEDG and BON? What’s the criteria of choosing the five parties for the debate? Who funds NEDG and BON?
“ Of all the five parties chosen for the debate, none has campaigned so hard, forcefully, so extensive, so intense, and so consistent, over a longer period of time and throughout the length and breadth of Nigeria like Omoleye Sowore.
“ Sowore has been to all the 36 states. He has met and dialogued with the Nigerian poor of different shapes and sizes. He has gone where none of the five candidates selected for the debate has gone. His party, AAC has more candidates contesting for different political offices than ACPN, ANN, and YPP combined. So what criteria was used?”
Even the presidential candidate of ACPN, Oby Ezekwesili has made case for inclusion of more candidates, at least, two.
In his reaction, Social Democratic Party (SDP) candidate for Arochukwu state House of Assembly, Hon. Kalu Kalu Ulu, questioned the criteria used in selecting the five candidates, insisting that any serious criteria used must include Donald Duke, SDP, Presidential candidate. Unfortunately, the court on Friday ruled that Duke should be replaced with Jerry Gana as the SDP presidential candidate.
Ulu said: “What is the basis and criteria for the choice? If it is on past record of performance of the candidate, Donald Duke stands out and cannot be ignored.
“If it is on the goodwill of the people, political party rooted all over the country, internal cohesion, peace and harmony in the party, our party and by extension candidate is eminently qualified.”
He noted further that “by any serious criteria SDP candidate should not be left out and by leaving our party out it casts serious doubt on the credibility of the organising body. Anything worth doing is worth doing well, the contestants must have equal opportunity to tell Nigerians their capacity to deliver.”
Most political watchers told The Niche that it is laughable to have not less than 68 political parties and settle for only five in a presidential debate.
They contend that there must be a level playing ground for all the contestants rather than giving undue advantage to some.
In the words of Oluwasanmi: “It is instructive to remind Emesiri and others who selected the five parties for the debate that the future of creative and innovative leadership is about having the humility to respect and recognize the experience and views of others, and not to retreat into fear of defensiveness”.
But NEDG said their choice of participating parties for the debate was made through an independently administered multi-stage process.It noted further that considering the vast number of contending parties, the decision to limit to five parties was taken at the beginning of the entire process to ensure ease of management for the debates.
The organisers said in a statement on Thursday, December 13, 2018, that “The first stage was an independent online poll and the second involved the distribution of survey questionnaires per state, to professionals, artisans, students, etc; respondents were within the voting age and spread across urban, semi-urban and rural classifications.
“ The third stage was to take an aggregate of the stage result and extend invitations to the top 5 parties for the debate”.
The expectation from most Nigerians that spoke to The Niche is that the organising body must ensure they accommodate more candidates that have proven records so as to allow the people have a wider range of choice in the election of their president.
