President Muhammadu Buhari has yet to take a decision on whether he will take part or not in the presidential debate slated for January 19, 2019 by the Nigeria Election Debate Group.

But the Peoples Democratic Party and the Social Democratic Party said their candidates, Atiku Abubakar and Donald Duke respectively, would take part in the debate.


The Chairman of the Nigeria Election Debate Group, Mr John Momoh, told journalists in Abuja on Thursday that the group had fixed January 19, 2019 for a debate for presidential candidates of different political parties taking part in the 2019 elections.

Momoh, who is also the chairman of the Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria, said the debate series would, however, start on December 14, 2018 when vice presidential candidates are billed to take their turns.


He added that the debates would hold at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, and would be broadcast live by all BON members.

He said the debate would focus on the nation’s economy, electricity, job creation, health care, education and security, among others.

Momoh said Nigeria would be strong when elected leaders were transparent, adding that such openness must start long before election.


He said, “Our nation is strongest when our elected leaders are transparent, accessible and accountable to its citizens, explaining their decisions and answering tough questions. That standard of openness must start long before election day.

“It is for this reason that the Nigerian Election Debate Group and the Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria are organising a vice presidential debate on December 14, 2018 and a presidential debate on January 19, 2019.


“The debates would hold at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel Abuja and will be broadcast live on all BON member radio and television stations across the country.

He added, “The debates will also be streamed live on all mobile and social media platforms such as Youtube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

In justifying the debates, Momoh said it was a well-known fact that Nigeria, in spite of its potential, was faced with a social crisis that began way back during the military era and had been with the democratic rule since.

He said the nation today was experiencing a health care crisis threatening women and children, education crisis threatening children’s future, power crisis crippling economic activities, and a more fundamental crisis of corruption, accountability and security.


He identified other challenges facing the nation to include threat to national unity, resource control and selfdetermination, ethnicity-based identity politics and religious cleavages which he said had enveloped national consciousness. 
Many of these problems, Momoh argued, stemmed from decisions made by Nigerian leaders behind closed doors or openly.

When asked about the group’s plan to avoid past situations when leading candidates shunned similar debates, he said it was the prerogative of the candidates to attend.


He said while some countries had already enshrined it in their constitution to make it compulsory for candidates to participate in debates, Nigeria had yet to do so.

He recalled that efforts had been made in the past to ensure that such a law was made in Nigeria.

Momoh expressed the hope that in the not too distant time, such a law would be promulgated in Nigeria.


In an interview with the punch correspondents, the spokesman for Buhari Presidential Campaign Organisation, Mr Festus Keyamo (SAN), said no decision had been taken on whether Buhari would participate in the debate or not.

He said once a decision was taken on the matter, it would be made public.

“I am not the only one that will take that decision. When that time comes, all those concerned will sit down and take a decision on that and we shall make our decision public,” Keyamo said. But the National Chairman of the PDP, Uche Secondus, in a separate interview said the party’s presidential candidate would take part in the debate.

Secondus described the debate as an opportunity to tell Nigerians what the party had to offer Nigerians and why the citizens should vote for its candidate.
Secondus said, “The PDP and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, will be live at the debate and we will tell Nigerians in clear terms what we have to offer them.

“We are not going to shy away from the people we are seeking their votes. We will talk to them, answer their questions and also sell our party and its manifesto to them.

observing

Let Duke take over