Ezekwesili challenges Buhari to five presidential debates lasting 20 hours so he can defend his record

FORMER education minister and Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN) presidential candidate Dr Obiageli Ezekwesili has challenged President Muhammadu Buhari to 20 hours of political debate during which he should defend his record in office.

Next February, Nigeria goes to the polls and President Buhari and Dr Ezekwesili are among the 30 or so candidates running for the presidency. So far, however, President Buhari has said that he will not participate in any presidential debate, pointing out that he will delegate that task to vice president Professor Yemi Osinbajo.

Yesterday, Dr Ezekwesili rejected this suggestion, saying that her challenge was aimed at allowing President Buhari defend his achievements. She said the debate by proxy should not be accepted by Nigerians, pointing out that those who shy away from presenting themselves before Nigerians don’t deserve to take the position of leadership.

Stating that nothing less than 20 hours of debate was acceptable to a country of approximately 200m people, Dr Ezekwesili stressed that the debate should be split in five sessions of four hours each, or four sessions of five hours each.  According to Dr Ezekwesili, the first debate should be held within a week of when campaigns officially start.

Dr Ezekwesili said: “It appears that there is a conspiracy of the minority to trivialize the issue of presidential debate in a bid to exempt President Muhammadu Buhari from defending his performance and presenting his plans before the Nigerian people. This is unacceptable as the people need to know why they should vote for each of the candidates and they need to know now.

“Make no mistake, the only people Nigerians want to hear from are their presidential hopefuls. Nigerians vote for presidents and presidents are the ones who get the job done.

“Vice Presidents will not take Nigeria out of poverty, so this is not the time to short-change citizens with a vice presidential debate. Nigerians are voting for top of the ticket, not VP and they are aware that this is what matters, so anything less than a presidential debate will be considered gross disrespect for the millions of citizens we hope to lead.”