Muhammadu Buhari, the incumbent
and presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), is missing
at the flagship 2019 presidential debate.
Atiku Abubakar, the presidential
candidate of the PDP and the Buhari’s major challenger is late for the debate.
TheCable reports that Atiku
made a last minute decision to boycott the debate, as advised by some members of
his campaign council, seeing that his major challenger had shown signs that he
will not be attending.
Some other members of his
campaign team persuaded him to attend the debate, seeing it as an opportunity
to market himself, and build a case against Buhari.
“I arrived the Congress Hall of
the Hilton venue of the #2019Debate. This debate and the election is a
referendum on the incumbent,” Atiku tweeted.
The debate, which is hosted by
Nigeria Elections Debate Group (NEDG) and the Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria
(BON) is currently ongoing at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja.
The last time Muhammadu Buhari
attended any Presidential debate with opponents was in 2011, when he went
against Ibrahim Shekarau of All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), and Nuhu Ribadu
of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).
Goodluck Jonathan, the incumbent
and the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was
absent at the debate, which was hosted by NN24 and moderated by Kadaria Ahmed.
In response to Jonathan’s absence,
Shekarau, Ribadu, and Buhari, who were the main contenders in the election,
decided to boycott the BON/NEDG debate slated for March 29, 2011.
Fela Durotoye of the Alliance for
New Nigeria (ANN); Kingsley Moghalu of the Young Peoples Party (YPP); and Oby
Ezekwesili of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), are present at the
debate.
Despite aspiring to be president
since 1993, this is the very first time Atiku has come this far in the
presidential process.
Atiku was, however, present at
the 1999 vice-presidential debate, where he took on Umaru Shinkafi, the
vice-presidential candidate of the All Peoples Party (APP) and running mate to
Olu Falae, who ran with the Alliance for Democracy (AD).
More to follow…
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