Presidential debate: PDP won’t Beg Buhari, Ribadu, Shekarau

The Director General of the Peoples Democratic Party Presidential Campaign Council, Senator Dalhatu Tafida, on Monday said the party would not beg the presidential candidates of the Congress for Progressive Change, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd), his counterparts in the Action Congress of Nigeria, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu and the All Nigeria Peoples Party, Alhaji Ibrahim Shekarau, to attend the presidential debates which began in Abuja on Monday.

Tafida, who stated this while speaking with journalists in his office, added that it was left for Nigerians to judge the three presidential aspirants.

He said, “Their decision shows the level of respect they have for the Nigerian electorate.

‘’As far as the PDP is concerned, our presidential candidate and his running mate will attend.

“It is left for them to come and if eventually they do not come, it is up to them to also explain their position of not coming to Nigerians.

‘’They might have a reason and I don’t think that the reason for their absence will be good enough for not coming.

“ PDP will not reach out to them to come because this is a Nigerian affair and the body organising this debate is purely Nigerian, comprising the major broadcast and print media in the country.”

The three presidential aspirants in a joint statement signed by their spokespersons said they would be boycotting the debate because of the refusal of President Goodluck Jonathan, who is the presidential candidate of the PDP, to attend the earlier debate organised by the NN24.

But Tafida explained that the organisers of the first debate did not have the reach like the debate by the Nigeria Election Debate Group.

Meanwhile, the Acting National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Dr. Haliru Mohammed, has said that last Saturday’s Abuja grand finale of the party’s cross-country presidential campaign rallies marked the beginning of the much-awaited process of enthroning a golden era of genuine and total transformation of the country and that the event has served to put the opposition on notice.

He explained that beyond the pomp and pageantry of the campaigns, what was more important was pledged by President Jonathan and his running mate, Vice-President Namadi Sambo, that they will not let Nigerians down no matter the circumstances.