Presidential Debate: Why APC is shielding Buhari-PDP

The decision of the All Progressive Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Organisation to boycott the presidential debate being organised by the Nigerian Election Debate Group has incurred the wrath of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Campaign Organisation.

The APC had anchored its decision on what it called the unhidden bias of the key organisers of the programme as it noted that the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria, (BON), Nigeria Television Authority, (NTA), Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, (FRCN) and the Africa Independent Television, (AIT) were working against the interest of the Presidential candidate of the main opposition party, General Muhammadu Buhari.

But the Director of Media and Publicity of the PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation, Femi Fani Kayode in a statement yesterday claimed the APC took the decision to boycott the programme simply to shield from Nigerians and the international audience its candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari’s intellectual laziness and inability to constructively engage contemporary national issues in a live television and radio debate.

The former Aviation Minister declared that the APC “knows that General Buhari will flunk it if he is subjected to the rigours of debate on issues of national governance and development.”

Fani-Kayode further claimed he was aware that the APC had already expressed its concerns, when approached by an international news channel for a debate, about the intellectual acumen of General Buhari, and had assured the news channel that it was only comfortable with its vice presidential candidate, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, who has capacity to feature brilliantly on the programme.

Fani-Kayode said: “We have just read a report in the media credited to the APC Presidential Campaign Organisation that the party would not allow its candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari, to participate in the radio and television presidential debate organized by the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON).