Pre-election debates, by any standard and in any clime, provide the right platform to elective office seekers to not only project themselves and their agenda for the people should they triumph at the poll. Such debates, especially when broadcast live, also go a long way in allowing the electorate to assess their would-be leaders as well as providing the opportunity for choices by undecided voters. For a nation that has grappled with a spate of unwilling leaders, and atimes reluctant elective office seekers, it is not considered out of place for the debates organised by the Nigeria Election Debate Group, NEDG to be as welcome as its objectives are developmental in any democracy. In tandem with the foregoing, not a few Nigerians have continued to applaud the NEDG initiative as a major catalyst in the deepening of the people’s democratic choices. We note too that the experience of the NEDG over the years and the positive fallouts of its activities in the above direction have always attracted the attention of governments in foreign lands that have not wasted time in seeking its expertise for similar service offshore. We hold that positive recognition for the giant strides in development of our democracy from the NEDG initiative ups the rating of Nigeria, its peoples and their democracy in the international community. But we are worried that such ideals being pushed forward by patriotic minded fellow Nigerians designed for our democracy and the principal actors in the arena, politicians are spurned with impunity by the same people that should benefit from its organisation. In this wise, we wonder why any presidential office seeker who flies his party’s flag would for any reason decline participation in the debate for any reason whatsoever. For instance, why would the flagbearer of the opposition All Progressives Congress, APC, retired General Muhammadu Buhari fail to partake in the debates? As a major opponent to the incumbent president in the contest, we wonder what advantage his publicised decision to boycott the debates would attract to him. With the bagful of complaints and criticisms that roll out from his campaign headquarters almost on a daily basis, we expect him and his associates as well as his party to take advantage of the presidential debates to throw up their fears and programmes. No doubt, in other climes, Buhari’s absence at the NEDG debates weekend would cost himself and his party the election. You do not snub such a genuine and germane platform to let the people know your vision and mission and yet still bank on the same people for votes. Instead of beating the very difficult, onerous and tortuous path that political campaigns usually take office seekers through ahead of polls, he ought to realise that from the debate platform he could reach additional members of the electorate who would watch the event via television or live streaming or those who would listen on radio. There is also the additional fact that newspaper reports the next day would somehow feature aspects of his views at the debates. But all that was lost on the APC candidate when President Goodluck Jonathan joined other parties’ candidates in a robust debate on Nigeria after this Saturday’s presidential poll. Though it may be too late for now, we call on relevant authorities to make presidential debates in future elections compulsory for parties’ candidates. Enough of this slap on the face of the electorate.
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