Uwakwe Abugu, the chairman of the University of Abuja Presidential Debate Committee, has assured that President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and General Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) will participate in the presidential debate being provided by the university on March 25.
Mr. Abugu said that since none of the aspirants had rejected the invitations given to them, it was expected that they would be present at the event to present their manifestoes to the voters.
According to him, the tomorrow’s presidential debate would present a chance for the candidates to instruct Nigerians particularly on their parties’ manifestoes.
The chair of the committee said different media resources will be offered to monitor the debate which he said would be two dimensional.
He added that the purpose of the debate was not to put any of the aspirants on the hot seat or set an examination for any of them, saying: “We just want them to come and educate Nigerians and for voters to know their programmes so that they can make informed choice.”
Abugu said an uneducated elector is disaster to democracy. So, they need to inform the voters so that they can make learned choice adding that surely there will questions here and there, he said.
He urged the presidential aspirants of all the listed parties to be at the university centre, whether they will be participating in the debate or not, continuing that their arrival alone means a vote for peace for Nigeria.
Efforts to check whether Buhari will be gracing the debate through Mallam Garba Shehu, his media director, were useless, as his phone was switched off.
It should be noted that two key presidential candidates in the forthcoming polls, Buhari and Jonathan, failed to have the debates two times already.
While President Jonathan participated in NEDG debate, his main opponent General Buhari said there was nothing to debate after 16 years of misrule.
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