Welcome, Guest: Register On Nairaland / LOGIN! / Trending / Recent / NewStats: 3,195,038 members, 7,956,867 topics. Date: Monday, 23 September 2024 at 09:06 PM |
Nairaland Forum / Nairaland / General / Politics / Omisore, Akinbade Absent At Osungovernorship Election Debate (478 Views)
7 Key PDP Members Who Were Absent At Pdp's National Conference Yesterday / Mimiko, Fayose, Others Absent At PDP Govs Meeting With Jonathan / Buhari Absent At APC Rally In London- Report (2) (3) (4)
(1) (Reply)
Omisore, Akinbade Absent At Osungovernorship Election Debate by bolafez(m): 12:47pm On Jul 27, 2014 |
THE candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party [PDP] in the August 9 governorship election in Osun state, Chief Iyiola Omisore, went missing yesterday at a radio debate where he was supposed to square up to the incumbent,Governor Rauf Aregbesola. Aregbesola is flying the flag of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the election. Also unavailable at yesterday’s debate organized by the International Republican Institute [IRI]was Alhaji Fatai Akinbade of Labour Party (LP). The absence of other leading contenders in the election left the candidate of the All Progressives Congress [APC], Rauf Aregbesola, having all the time allotted for the “Manifesto Hour” programme to himself. Although Akinbade, sent his running mate to stand in for him the debate organisers disallowed him from participating, saying the rule was that candidates would not be represented by proxies. The Unity Party of Nigeria [UPN] candidate, Ibrahim Adeoti, who was not invited to the debate, was allowed time to speak even when he was not initially invited. He walked in on his own and insisted to be allowed to speak. Organizers were shocked at Omisore and Akinbade’s failure to turn uo. ”We wrote to them and up to 20 minutes to the beginning of the programme, they were still giving us the impression they would be attending,” said Ezenwa Nwagwu, an official of the Partners for Electoral Reform, who moderated the debate on behalf of the IRI. “We even started the debate 45 minutes late just because we were waiting for the PDP and LP candidates to show up.” The Director of Media and Strategy,Omisore’s Campaign |Organisation, Diran Odeyemi, claimed his principal was not properly invited. ”It was only this morning (yesterday) that our candidate (Mr. Omisore) received a text message reminding him of the debate and that he was being expected at the OSBC studios,” Mr. Odeyemi said,adding:”We did not receive any letter from them. We have a rally today in Ikirun and as I speak to you, we are on our way there.” But Mr. Nwagwu rubbished Mr. Odeyemi’s claim, calling it “mere political shenanigan”. “We invited them properly,” Mr. Nwagwu said. “It was not verbal invitations. We wrote them letters and the records are there. If we did not properly invite them, how did the APC candidate attend? How did the LP candidate get to send his running mate?” The Labour Party admitted that Akinbade was invited but explained that he could not personally attend as he had another appointment to keep,hence the decision to his running mate. ”In order not to create a vacuum, he sent his running mate but the organizers did not allow him to speak,” said Kayode Oladeji, the spokesperson for Mr. Akinbade, the LP candidate. “As far as we are concerned, we fulfilled all righteousness. It is the organisers thst should explain why they did not allow our candidate’s running mate to participate.” However, Mr. Nwagwu declared that rules were clear from the start. “We had made it clear that only candidates, and not their running mates were expected to participate. There was no room for running mates and they all know that,” he said. Aregbesola told listeners that the best thing to have happened in the since its creation are his programmes which the PDP wants to destroy. |
Re: Omisore, Akinbade Absent At Osungovernorship Election Debate by hod898(m): 12:50pm On Jul 27, 2014 |
Imagine |
(1) (Reply)
The Nigerian Political Games - What Do You Think? / Boko Haram Terrorists Raze Police Station, Churches, In Maiduguri Killing Many / Clampping Down Of Opposition And 2015
(Go Up)
Sections: politics (1) business autos (1) jobs (1) career education (1) romance computers phones travel sports fashion health religion celebs tv-movies music-radio literature webmasters programming techmarket Links: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) Nairaland - Copyright © 2005 - 2024 Oluwaseun Osewa. All rights reserved. See How To Advertise. 12 |