Oby Ezekwesili
Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN) presidential candidate, Oby
Ezekwesili has challenged President Muhammadu Buhari to a 20 hour
debate to defend his achievements or lack of it.
Affirming that debate by proxy should not be accepted by Nigerians,
she said that those who shy away from presenting themselves before the
people do not deserve to take the position of leadership.
Ezekwesili further stated that nothing less than 20 hours of debate
is acceptable to a country of approximately 200 million people. She
said that the debate should be split in five sessions of four hours
each, or four sessions of five hours each.
The first debate, according to her statement, should be held within a week of official campaign start by INEC on 18 November.
“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.
“The people need to know why they should vote for each of the candidates, and they need to know now,” Ezekwesili said in a statement on Sunday.
“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 shortchange 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. Anything less than a presidential
debate will be considered gross disrespect for the millions of citizens
we hope to lead,” she added.
The statement said that Ezekwesili has as the main thrust of her
campaign, the lifting of over 80 million Nigerians out of poverty and
making prosperity possible for every business, every family, and every
Nigerian citizen.
The former Vice President of the World Bank for Africa and 2018
Nobel Prize nominee has pledged to lead a government focused on
competitiveness, productivity and economic prosperity if elected into
office.