Those saying debate should be among different parties are living in the Primitive Age,seems they do not see how Americans debate among themselves before coming out as party flag  bearer to still debate the main opponent from another party,IS TIME WE NIGERIANS START DOING SAME AFTER ALL WE ARE PRACTICING AMERICAN TYPE OF PRESIDENTIAL SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT,so Debate is ABSOLUTELY NECCESSARY from the party to the final debate facing the other party. ATIKU AND GEJ IS TIME TO FIGHT IT OUT  and not just them the other parties too should do same,Nigerians have to know the educated and the illiterate,those that has vision and those that lack vision.

Peeps i dnt even c a gud candidatde in jonathan & atiku, birds of a feather flocks 2geda in a People Destroying Party.

The display of ignorance here is SHOCKING!!! What wit the Atiku-Jonathan debate? Aspirants hold rallies aimed at party delegates before the election convention NOT DEBATES aaaaah! See Kerry/Edward(2004), Obama/Hilary Clinton(2008)etc. Or ws there any between Obasanjo in '99&'03 or Yar'Adua in '07 and other aspirants in PDP as at then. Why aint they calling for same in ACN/CPC>Ribadu-Buhari. Pls get some information.

lets wait ans see

i don't see the relevant of the debate at this point since they are still at the primary level.

it is pdp delegates who will vote at the primaries and these people are motivated by money and promises of juicy appointments, not ideologies.

no matter who wins the debate, the delegates will only vote for the candidate that will settle them better.

I have come to the conclusion that we get the leaders we deserve in Nigeria, especially when we have citizens - who I assume claim to be patriots - openly espousing the view that a debate is unnecessary.  We have a fragile democracy and need to do more to democratise our institutions at all levels and this debate is clearly one of the elements of democracy we should be longing for.
When the political parties are not grounded in any principles other than a power grab it is important that we get to listen to the 'issues' (if any)  that are both at the heart and drive these politicians to political power.  Who cares whether it is intra or inter party debate,  it is better than the nonsense we are served up now.

How else are we going to have the intelligent leadership this godforsaken country is crying out for? And to those who say it would damage the PDP or claim it's an 'anti' gej' agenda, for god sake let's not kid ourselves. Nigeria is a one party PDP state and whoever gets the PDP nomination will return the next president by hook or by crook. So in essence this is as close as we will get to a presidential debate. 

I know it's not  a perfect, it's not even good it's poor, but these are practices we should start expecting from these guys. The culture of open debate is intrinsic in democracy otherwise it's a slippery slope towards the other option which I certainly do not want.

And I have an off topic question. Why do we glorify past kleptocratic Presidents/Leaders in this country by naming roads or public places after them? Are our standards that low?

debate or no debate none of them is good enough for nigeria they are both thieves just like all other nigerian politicians polithievians

Ha! Atiku is going to murder Lucky! Let's hope they show it live on National TV! We need something to make us laugh, seeing as there aren't any good comedy shows anymore,

All the debate in the so called US was not between an incumbent and another candidate.So Atiku should go and sit down.Or can anybody tell me where George Bush Junior or senior,Reagan,Clinton were involved in any intra part debate?

I think the only best way for these debate should be after primary so the winner of the primary in PDP will face any candidate from other party. Beside I dont know why Atiku just insist on debate any way let see what magic or a point Atiku really want to throw out to beat GEJ am so keen and really want to see how it goes.

In the run towards the U.S presidential election, there are lots of debates among members of the same party willing to be the main face in the run for the president. In the U.S's case, the citizens are the ones who vote in support of their favourite candidate. In 9ja's case however, if i may recall well, i think only some pdp notaries are allowed to choose who they want. If the pdp vote will be fair based on who will better represent the country then i'll say debate is the way to go, so the candidates can convince more pple to vote for or against them.

Jonathan Finally Agrees To Debate = Jonathan Finally Agrees to Fail

To debate:
You must be able to think quickly
You must be able to clearly express yourself
You must clearly understand your policies and how to put them to work
You must clearly understand politics and how to effectively address certain issues
Finally, you must be able to take control

Atiku is not only a successful politician and a leader, but an incredible business man. He will school Jonathan like a student.

I want to see a real debate, I prefer to see Atiku and Buhari debate

We should all be pulling for a real debate; a debate between Buhari and Atiku.

[size=28pt]Atiku go school Goodboy. Motion I seconded.[/size]

Big B1:

Jonathan Finally Agrees To Debate = Jonathan Finally Agrees to Fail

To debate:
You must be able to think quickly
You must be able to clearly express yourself
You must clearly understand your policies and how to put them to work
You must clearly understand politics and how to effectively address certain issues
Finally, you must be able to take control

Atiku is not only a successful politician and a leader, but an incredible business man. He will school Jonathan like a student.

I want to see a real debate, I prefer to see Atiku and Buhari debate

Exactly, I hope Nigerians listen to that debate and vote accordingly. A dunce cannot rule us, period!

Big B1:

Jonathan Finally Agrees To Debate = Jonathan Finally Agrees to Fail

To debate:
You must be able to think quickly
You must be able to clearly express yourself
You must clearly understand your policies and how to put them to work
You must clearly understand politics and how to effectively address certain issues
Finally, you must be able to take control

Atiku is not only a successful politician and a leader, but an incredible business man. He will school Jonathan like a student.

I want to see a real debate, I prefer to see Atiku and Buhari debate

I don't have anything against Jonathan but I don’t think Jonathan can win the election if elections are done in a proper way like in civilized country.
You are right my dear, Jonathan’s debate = Jonathan failure because;
Jonathan can’t think quickly, he can’t clearly express himself not to take of convincing other people.
Watch this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tA5UZINdEY&feature=related
I think there are better Nigerians who are capable and competent to rule us. Jonathan can be on board but please not as a President of Nigeria

Ahijdo ur very stupid for saying that .listing ne is a lecturer before jioning politics.so the debate its a good tiding to our democracy. I remain cenaboy. Happy new year[color=#770077][/color]

I wont want to comment on this debate muchh but people saying GEJ is weak, he cant express himself, he can not think fast and so on I find it hard to belief someone who studied in Nigeria no matter where he grew up from and he attained the level of education he has today and some still refer to him as slow, unintellegent, dummy all this qualities attributed to him really shock me.

The truth as far as i'm concern this man called GEJ is not slow or unintellegent this man is just playing gentleman politics and just trying not step on law of the land like past leaders did, he is just been careful. Nobody is a dummy every dog can bark and give a deep bite no matter how spoilt the dog is so I never see any body born as Nigeria a dummy.

I even fear people like him most because you can not understand their mind easily and they are always hard if you are closer to them. If Atiku is to be in position of GEJ TODAY I belief by now GEJ will be in prison or just look for one frivlous accusation to nail GEJ down but this man called GEJ play a mature politics and people now say a man that was born in Delta is a dummy or slow to think I seriously laugh this off because it is not true and never a deltan ways at all. LetS all wait and see how the debate will go. David will alwayS defeat Goliath till heaven will come so if anyone think he knows all, please fellow posters is a lie of the devil, its only God that knows all. Pride and overconfidence always ends in failure and disgrace lets wait and see.

I just hope these guys would not disgrace Nigeria more on international television because they are not good at public speaking and Atiku for one is dumb. I look forward to that day and would watch with keen interest. Try watching Obama and Mccain's debate and you would be proud of American presidents and even the aspirants who didn't win. These guys have no vision and how to go about it and thats the truth. Atiku in his campaign advert on tv said, "i would make things happen". Just imagine the level of illiteracy. thats why notherners who have most of its population uneducated are following them after they speak the native language and throw a little money, I can keep writing on and on but we need to know that we need to pick the better of two bad. Goodluck is far better and has now to prove himself, Atiku has been here before and failed woefully. He should not show his face.

You can read this post on http://betternigeria.org/where-do-we-start/

www.betternigeria.org

I have come to the conclusion that we get the leaders we deserve in Nigeria, especially when we have citizens - who I assume claim to be patriots - openly espousing the view that a debate is unnecessary.

don't mind these fools.

The year 2011 has almost ended and we are still waiting for a time-table of this 'debate agreement'.
I believe Jisos will come and claim his people before this takes place.
This would be a world-class entertainment I tellya.
I hope Mrs. Jonathan is invited too.

Mu he he he he he

people pls tell me the essence of having debates when two people that we definitely know are not going to transform Nigeria are involved. the fact that they say good things during the debates do not guarantee that they would be done, look at how far we have come 50 years and a lame man with good intention cannot wake up one morning and say he wants to be president and actually win. we should not be bothering our selves about all these but how we can make free and fair elections possible so we can elect people who have actually done something for the nation(not just sharing food and giving out money) before coming up from nowhere and saying he or she wants to be the head.

bisiaet:

I wont want to comment on this debate muchh but people saying GEJ is weak, he cant express himself, he can not think fast and so on I find it hard to belief someone who studied in Nigeria no matter where he grew up from and he attained the level of education he has today and some still refer to him as slow, unintellegent, dummy all this qualities attributed to him really shock me.

The truth as far as i'm concern this man called GEJ is not slow or unintellegent this man is just playing gentleman politics and just trying not step on law of the land like past leaders did, he is just been careful. Nobody is a dummy every dog can bark and give a deep bite no matter how spoilt the dog is so I never see any body born as Nigeria a dummy.

I even fear people like him most because you can not understand their mind easily and they are always hard if you are closer to them. If Atiku is to be in position of GEJ TODAY I belief by now GEJ will be in prison or just look for one frivlous accusation to nail GEJ down but this man called GEJ play a mature politics and people now say a man that was born in Delta is a dummy or slow to think I seriously laugh this off because it is not true and never a deltan ways at all. LetS all wait and see how the debate will go. David will alwayS defeat Goliath till heaven will come so if anyone think he knows all, please fellow posters is a lie of the devil, its only God that knows all. Pride and overconfidence always ends in failure and disgrace lets wait and see.

Stop making illogical excuses. Nobody ever said Prof Claude Ake was unintelligent. Noboday would dare accuse Prof Utomi of shying away from debate. So it is not about Niger Delta
GEJ and Sambo do not appear to be very sharp. They would remain like that even if they were chinese.
We don't want a president to be feared. We don't want a president we are told he is awesome. Let him come and overawe Atiku, an illiterate customs officer, with his very sharp intellect
Why do you even want to hold the debate on behalf of GEJ. Are you planning to rule on his behalf?

sammy187:

people pls tell me the essence of having debates when two people that we definitely know are not going to transform Nigeria are involved. the fact that they say good things during the debates do not guarantee that they would be done, look at how far we have come 50 years and a lame man with good intention cannot wake up one morning and say he wants to be president and actually win. we should not be bothering our selves about all these but how we can make free and fair elections possible so we can elect people who have actually done something for the nation(not just sharing food and giving out money) before coming up from nowhere and saying he or she wants to be the head.

The debate cannot hurt your desire for free and fair elections. You may even want to submit questions on that issue. These guys do not have what it takes, but they may use the might of PDP to rig themselves in. So let us know how well they will be able to do in the face of fire while in office

sammy187:


http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/articles/olu-akeredolu/the-outrageous-costs-of-phoning-in-nigeria.html#replybox

Terribly written article, imo

Hi guys, Ii appreciate ur contribution in this forum. You are all great minds with gold hands and a patriotic heart. I want to believe that no one dares to visit this page unless he has a core interest of one thing at heart, and we all have it in common; that is Nigeria as a nation, not the Nigerian government, who for the past three decades of mine existence, I haven't seen anyone sincere, and few ones are being bombarded with bad eggs all around them.

Please guys, I want to make two simple points clear to you:

1. There is no point bothering ourselves over any home videos these politicians are playing us in terms of political statements or attack on each other. The truth is that whether Atiku attacked GEJ, or GEJ agreed to debate or not, PDP already knew their flagbearer before now. Politicians are so funny that give them some times now, they just settle themselves with our resources and watch u reacting, so what is the point?

2. Secondly, i want to appeal to guys in this forum and wherever u have opportunity to rub minds thru any medium. Please, let's learn to address issue at stake and not attacking our personalities using abusive and indecent words.

My prayer for us all who love this nation is to pray to God for a leader who has the interest of this nation at heart, and of course, let us all make good decision by voting for our conscience sake when the time come.

I love you all, cheers!

beaf is rather sentimental when gej is discussed here. Observed!

@Ozin: Intra Party debates happen all the time here! Remember the slugfest/Battle Royale/ Royal Rumble/take-no-prisoners-no-holds barred/all-out-brawl btwn John Kerry, Howard Dean, John Edwards, Joe Lieberman and co? Ah, sure u don't! If u did u for no ask this kin question!

Debate gives the aspirants more time and opportunity to express their intentions in the face of direct criticism from the opposing aspirant. This article below also talks on the same topic

http://www.nigeriancommunity.net/en/articles/item/296-2011-i%E2%80%99m-ready-for-public-debate-%E2%80%93-jonathan.html