Presidential debate: Organisers beg Buhari, Ribadu, Shekarau to reconsider boycott

The Nigerian Elections Debate Group (NEDG) yesterday asked three presidential candidates to reconsider their proposed boycott of the March 28-30 presidential debate with President Goodluck Jonathan.

The affected candidates are: Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (the Congress for Progressive Change); Mallam Nuhu Ribadu (the Action Congress of Nigeria) and Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau (All Nigeria Peoples Party).

They said they are suspecting that the March 29 debate, being organised by the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON) might be a charade of a kokolete debate.

But the NEDG said its debate will not be skewed in favour of any candidate as it is not a government-financed group.

In a statement in Abuja by its Chairman and CEO, the NEDG said it would conduct a transparent and fair debate.

The statement said: “The attention of the Nigerian Elections Debate Group (NEDG) has been drawn to a statement entitled: ‘Our Position on President Jonathan’s Refusal to Participate in Presidential Debate organized by NN24’ and signed by Sule Yale Sule, Deputy Director, Communications, Shekarau for Nigeria, Yinka Odumakin, Spokesman for Gen. Mohammadu Buhari and Ibrahim Modibbo, Director, Media and Communications, Ribadu Presidential Campaign Team, which mistakenly gave the impression that Nigerian Election Debate Group (NEDG) is synonymous with the Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria (BON), the umbrella body of the publicly and privately owned radio and television stations in the country.

“For the avoidance of doubt, BON is not a government parastatal, but an umbrella association of all radio and television stations in Nigeria, and has pursued the collective interests of all broadcasters, at times even against the government’s position.

“It must be emphasized that the NEDG is a broader coalition of broadcast and print media owners, as well as professional, civil society, women and youth organisations, namely: Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria (BON); Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN) ;Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) ; Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) ; Alliance for Credible Elections (ACE); the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA); the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) ;National Council for Women Societies – Nigeria (NCWS); Electoral Reform Network (ERN) ; Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) ; and Transition Monitoring Group.

“The Nigerian Elections Debate Group (NEDG) platform is an independent broadly-based, experienced, tested and composed of over 250 terrestrial broadcast stations, the print media that will afford the voting public in Nigeria to appraise the candidates through their radio and television stations as well as newspapers and magazines.

“The NEDG composition shows that its affairs are run by organisations from mainly the private sector and civil society groups with their membership skewed towards an independent status, and actively supported by the United Nation Development Program (UNDP), National Democratic Institute (NDI) of the United States etc.

“The secretariat of NEDG is headed by experienced professionals with its day-to-day affairs run by Aremo Taiwo Allimi, who is a tested administrator and journalist with many years of experience, who successfully midwifed the 2003 and 2007 Debates.

“Consequently, the organisation of 2011 presidential debates holding from March 28 to 30, 2011 is open, transparent and independent.

“Questions that will be fielded to candidates are collated from questions sourced from contributions from professional groups and private persons as well as from NEDG Website and will be only made known to even the moderators ‘on air’ during the Presidential Debates.

“The questions are normally from broad areas and candidates will be expected to proffer their positions on such issues.

“The debate format and rules are strictly in line with the code of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) and the debates are open only to a non-participatory audience.

“The NEDG platform therefore remains the most credible, all-inclusive and most far-reaching forum that will enable candidates present directly their policies and programmes to several millions of Nigerians at home and abroad.

“NEDG therefore appeals to the presidential candidates of ACN, CPC and ANPP to reconsider their decision not to participate in the debates, as they owe Nigerians a duty to explain their positions on issues, so that they could be properly evaluated with the incumbent President and presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, standing side-by-side.

“The NEDG wishes to use this forum to reiterate that the presidential and vice presidential debates will hold at Congress Hall, Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja from March 28 to 30, 2011.”