Presidential hopeful Atiku Abubakar faced widespread ridicule on Twitter over the weekend for getting all worked up and abandoning a presidential debate because his main opponent, incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was absent. The flagbearer of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the February 16, 2019 presidential election, who cut short his trip to the United States to participate in the live TV debate ranted about Buhari’s absence before unceremoniously leaving the Congress Hall of the Transcorp Hilton Hotel.
“As a leader and former vice president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, let me first apologize to all Nigerians, my fellow candidates and the moderator for the APC Presidential Candidate’s absence in this debate. His non-appearance is a slight on ALL of us and our democracy. We came here for a Presidential debate, not a candidacy debate, and I, Atiku Abubakar cannot challenge or question an administration where the man at the helm of the affairs of the nation is not present to defend himself or his policies”, said Atiku. “After all you cannot shave a man’s head in his absence. I do not believe in attacking a man who is NOT here to defend himself.” In a statement, Atiku asked Buhari to “to choose a date and time for a debate where he will be present and I will be there, hopefully with the other candidates as well”.
Tweeters inevitably called out Atiku, condemning his action and Buhari’s, saying it was disrespectful to Nigerians. From Twitter posts, Atiku was even more savaged than Buhari. One Twitter user said: “Atiku’s advisers didn’t get this move right at all. This was your “See I’m here, I care, I feel your pain, I can hear you; the President couldn’t be bothered” moment and you blew it” Another post said: “People are more angry at Atiku who flew in from the US, landed at almost 3:00pm, changed and was at the venue of the debate at 6:15pm than they are at Buhari who is Abuja but refuses to take a 5min drive from Aso Rock to the venue?
The much-awaited debate was organized by the Nigeria Elections Debate Group and the Broadcasting Organizations of Nigeria and last December, it featured vice-presidential candidates. Atiku who returned from a visit to the United States sees himself as Buhari’s main rival and a pretender to the throne of Aso Rock. But Atiku was disappointed that Buhari did not come for the debate. Buhari absented himself from the debate the way he has done with all presidential debates before the one in 2011. The last time he took part in a presidential debate; he squared up against Ibrahim Shekarau of the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and Nuhu Ribadu of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). “With all due respect to my fellow candidates, Fela Durotoye, Oby Ezekwesili, Kingsley Moghalu and to the moderator Mark Sugar and with apologies to all Nigerians here and at home expecting an interesting debate, I regret that I will not be able to go on with this debate due to President Buhari’s absence,” Atiku said.
In the end, only 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) took part in the debate, which was anchored by media personality, Mark Segun Eddo. Expectedly, economy, security, healthcare and agriculture formed the major talking points, as the candidates marshaled their views on how they hope to revive the economy, tackle corruption, uphold the rule of law and rejuvenate education. Ezekwesili, who said she was not surprised that President Buhari and his PDP counterpart shunned the debate, added that the duo had announced their exit from the race by their own actions.
In reacting to Buhari and Atiku’s absence Moghalu said he was not surprised, stressing: “They are not here because of arrogance. They believe they can do without you. They believe we are trapped. They are not here because they cannot answer the questions. They are in the class of old politicians that have a sense of entitlements but have no record of performance.” Moghalu, a former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria who said he would put in place a youth-led government, and reduce government spending by going into a program of recruitment and training. He revealed that his government plans to recruit six million policemen in four years to tackle insecurity, while corruption in the army would be given a bloody nose. His government, he added would tackle poverty in the North East, which has led to violence in the regions, while also working hard to make “Nigerians feel they are Nigerians.”
On his part, Durotoye faulted APC’s fight against corruption, stressing that the party cannot defend its record, else, it would have been at the debate. Durotoye says his government will ensure proper welfare of the armed forces and the police, and also integrate security intelligence with locals. He stressed the need for a complete overhaul of the curriculum of the education system in order to make young school leavers job-ready upon leaving school. His government, he added would ensure the development of specialization among teachers. “We will ensure infrastructure and quality environment for education,” he said. He tailored his plan for health towards revamping the Primary Health Care system, adding that the best way to solving the country’s health challenge is by strengthening the PHCs.
While walking out of the debate venue, Atiku told reporters, “I am walking out because I was expecting to meet the President. The President has been in office for three and half years and he is not here to defend his tenure, so who am I going to debate with? Told that there was still enough time for Buhari to show up, he replied: “If he is on his way, I will come back. In any case, I will have the opportunity to address Nigerians via interviews nationally. I came from the United States because of the debate but unfortunately the President is not here to defend his record.”
Senate President and Director-General of the PDP Presidential Campaign Organization, Bukola Saraki, who accompanied Atiku to the debate venue said: “We have always made it clear to the organizers that our candidate is ready to debate with the President. When we were told in Washington DC that he will be here, we cut our trip short to come here, but we are here, he is not here. Our candidate is ready to debate with the President anytime he is ready” Moments after Atiku departed, he released a statement explaining in detail, why he walked out of the debate.
In explaining Buhari’s absence from the debate, APC Presidential Campaign Council, in a statement signed by its Director, Strategic Communications; Festus Keyamo (SAN) said Buhari could not attend mainly because of scheduling conflict. “…the busy and hectic official and campaign schedules of Mr. President clashed with this program. Today, Mr. President commissioned the Baro Inland Water Port in Niger State and campaigned in Niger and Plateau States where his time was over-stretched by the tumultuous and mammoth crowds in both states, (as seen by Nigerians on live television) and only returned to Abuja late this evening.
“Lastly, we note the statement of the candidate of the PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar who actually came for the event and left the venue when he did not see Mr. President, who is our candidate. According to him, he would not want to “attack” Mr. President in his absence. “It should now be obvious to Nigerians that for Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and the PDP, this election is all about attacking the person and programs of Mr. President and not about proffering their own solutions to the problems they created during their 16 years of misrule, maladministration and looting of the nation’s resources. When they cannot see President Buhari to attack, the content of their campaign becomes hollow, empty and full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Now that Atiku Abubakar had a unique opportunity to explain to Nigerians his own vision and mission without a President Buhari in the picture, he ran away. After all, he has his own eight years of crass and grand corruption as vice president to defend before the Nigerian people,” the statement concluded.
