President Muhammadu Buhari
The Buhari Campaign Council has said that President Muhammadu
Buhari is not evading debate but will only participate if he is
convinced that the circumstances and rules for such debate are germane.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had challenged the president to a
live debate with its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, on
critical sectors ahead of the 2019 presidential election.
The party noted that Buhari had been mortally afraid of debates,
adding that he should accept to face its candidate, Atiku, in a general
debate organised by independent bodies at any venue of his choice.
However, Buhari’s campaign team responded yesterday describing PDP’s challenge as mere grandstanding.
Speaking to THISDAY, the spokesman of the Buhari Campaign Council,
Festus Keyamo (SAN) said it is the PDP that is notorious for evading
debates.
He said that President Buhari will at the appropriate time decide
on his participation in the debate after being availed of all the
details and circumstances for such an exercise.
Keyamo said: “ First of all, let me say that the PDP has been
in the habit of running away from political debates. So they should not
come and tell us that they are some kind of super human who wants to
debate at all times.
“Obasanjo ran away from debate, Jonathan ran away from debate
during their time, so PDP has a history of running away from debates.”
The Buhari campaign Spokesmen further explained that contrary to
the insinuations being made by the PDP, the office was yet to receive
the formal invitation for a debate ahead of the 2019, adding that it
would always assess the circumstances behind any debate before accepting
to or rejecting it.
Keyamo also said that at the moment his office was yet to receive
formal invitation to the debate but that he will check with the office
of the Director General of the Campaign Organisation to know if the
organisers have sent such invitation.
According to Keyamo, the PDP is trying to claim what it does represent based on its antecedents.
“They should not come and deceive Nigerians that they are the
debaters, they are not the debaters. At the right time we will let them
know, when we know all the circumstances surrounding the debate whether
we will accede and not.
“By the time we know how the debate is being organised and the
rules of the debate, then we will let Nigerians know whether we will
debate or not.
“At the moment he said that the campaign office does not know
the details of the presidential debate, adding that it will take a
decision on whether to participate or not after studying the rules,” he added.