PDP opts out of Presidential debate

As the presidential debate organized by the Network News 24 Television (NN24 TV) kicks off Friday, the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said it will not participate in the debate as the party was not properly invited.

And commenting on the debate controversy, Special Adviser to the President on Research, Documentation and Strategy, Mr. Oronto Douglas, said while President Goodluck Jonathan is not afraid of debate, the organizers were acting in an uncoordinated manner.

According to the schedule of programmes for the debate unveiled yesterday by the organizers, the vice-presidential candidates of four political parties – the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), PDP, All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) – will participate in the television debate to be aired in all Nigerian television stations, BEN TV in the United Kingdom, Sky Television from 6 to 9 pm Friday.

But the PDP Presidential Campaign Council said the party’s presidential candidate, Jonathan, and his running mate, Alhaji Namadi Sambo, were not properly invited and therefore would not be taking part in the debate.

The Council’s Director of Media and Publicity, Mallam Abba Dabo, told THISDAY that the party was currently in campaigns and that Sambo has party activities in Kano Friday.

According to Dabo, “we were not properly invited. Moreover, the vice-president will be attending a PDP reconciliation meeting in Kano tomorrow (Friday) and so he will not be attending. The party is currently in the middle of its campaigns and therefore PDP will not be participating in the television debate, whether for the president or for the vice-president.”

It was further gathered that PDP backed out of the television debate because there were no concrete agreements on the nature of questions to be asked and how to admit the studio audience.

PDP, it was gathered, felt the presidential debate was a bait for some of the political parties to embarrass its presidential candidate and the running mate.

Releasing the details of the presidential debate to be anchored by Jonathan Mann of the Cable News Network (CNN) and Khadaria Ahmed of the NEXT newspaper, the trio of Anthony Dara of the NN24 TV, Newspaper Columnist Haruna Adamu and Clement Baite said that they had an agreement in principle that all the four listed political parties would attend.

On why the organizers were limiting the number of political parties to be invited to only four, Dara, who is the Chief Executive Officer of NN24 TV, said they took into cognizance the issues of spread and reach of the political parties before extending their invitation.

But the presidential candidate of the Hope Democratic Party (HDP), Ambrose Oworu, told journalists that the organizers were myopic and out to cause mischief.

“How can they not invite all the political parties that are fielding candidates at the presidential elections? What are the criteria for inviting only four, if not for the purposes of mischief and myopism?” he asked.

Also another group, the Nigeria Election Debate Group headed by the former Director General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), Taiwo Alimi, will between March 28 and 30 organize their own version of television debate for all the presidential candidates and their running mates.

Meanwhile, Douglas told journalists in Lagos Wednesday night that a lack of coordination among the debate organizers was the major hindrance to the president's participation.

He said so far, no fewer than four groups had invited Jonathan to participate in their debates, a situation he said was almost impossible considering the tight schedule of the president.

He said with the campaigns gaining momentum by the day, the president had been busy visiting almost two states per day, “so it is difficult to abandon the campaign for multiple debates”.

Douglas said since the campaign schedules were drawn up over a month ago, altering them at this point would create logistical problems for the campaign team.

"The president is not afraid of debate. The insinuation in some quarters that he is shying away from facing his co-contestants is not true. As a former teacher, the president is not afraid of facing such challenges. He is focused and wants avenues to further remind Nigerians what he has done for the country and what he intends to do if elected," he said.

The presidential aide said the last few months had provided opportunity for Jonathan to reaffirm his commitment to the country, adding that already, a majority of the people had keyed into his message of unity, stability and hope.

He urged Nigerians to keep faith with the president, adding that everything promised them during the campaign would be fulfilled after May 29.

"Don’t forget the fact that Mr. President has overtime proven to be the symbol of unity for the entire country. You can see from his campaign messages that the era of divisive politics is over. He is today telling all Nigerians that they can achieve their potentials and that a conducive atmosphere is being created for all persons to achieve their full greatness," he added.

Source:

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/pdp-opts-out-of-presidential-debate/87658/