Since the return of democracy in 1999, Nigerians have
always waited in vain for the candidates of the ruling
party to participate in a debate. In 1999, 2003, 2007
and 2011, the candidates of the ruling Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) did not show up. The 2011
edition took the format of drama as 3 of the candidates
appeared in one debate at one platform while the then
President, Goodluck Jonathan later undertook a one-
man debate in his preferred platform. It was only in
2015 that the main opposition candidate, General
Muhammadu Buhari shunned the debate of the time.
Many however did not blame him for his decision
considering that much earlier, there were numerous
personal attacks on him and his family by certain media
outfits that were part of the debate organizers. As a
result, no meaningful debate was held in 2015. Only
two weeks ago we witnessed the failure of the
candidates of the two main political parties to
participate in the 2019 edition. While President
Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressive Congress
APC claimed to have had other commitments which
made it impossible for him to attend, Atiku Abubakar of
the PDP declined to participate because of the absence
of Buhari.
The candidates had ample notice for the debate.
Indeed, their running mates had theirs more than a
month before the main presidential one scheduled for
January 19, 2019. On this note, the argument by the
APC candidate that he was otherwise engaged is not
strong. The PDP candidate who rushed back from as far
as the United States on the day of the event appeared
ready for the debate but his last minute refusal to
participate deprived Nigerians of getting fully educated
on his electoral mission. Why do our politicians
especially incumbents detest debates? Why are they
never willing to employ the powerful medium of
television to explain to voters their manifestoes and
election promises? What exactly are they hiding? To
unravel the inexplicable posture, we call for another
debate and appeal to the candidates to attend. It is
true that we have seen them at open rallies canvassing
for votes, but television debates are no doubt the most
effective form of political broadcasts. In the first place,
television ably shows how persuasive the speaker is as
well as the level of confidence he radiates. In other
words, television visibly portrays the competence of a
candidate in putting across a diametrically opposed
view-point to enable voters use comparison of
performance for informed decision making.
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While the concept of campaign rallies is not bad, the
Nigerian variant hardly educates anybody as our
political parties have over the years mastered the use
of rallies to deceive voters. A typical Nigeria political
rally which may take five to six hours devotes less than
15mns to the message segment. The better part of the
rally features dances, acrobatic displays and merriment
which add little or nothing to the voters’ understanding
of the capability of the candidate to improve the living
conditions of society. The message segment is often
puerile as the speakers merely repeatedly shout the
acronyms of their political parties. This is usually
followed by unnecessary denigration of the symbols,
emblems and logos of opposing political parties.
Thereafter, the speakers become intemperate, dishing
out hate speeches and abuses on all others who donot
belong to the political party organising the particular
rally.
Whereas television debates can enlighten the people,
rallies are fast becoming death traps for Nigerians
through stampedes. Our politicians have successfully
confused many citizens into believing that large crowds
at rallies signify popularity and ability to win an election
but we all now know that the crowds at Nigerian rallies
are rented. My former staff who is now a political scout,
claims to disburse huge funds for renting the same
people every other day for different political parties. If
scarce resources are so squandered to give a false
impression of popularity, of what use are political
rallies? Perhaps, the development further escalates the
commercialization of our election process. It is
therefore not irrational to describe the development as
the first leg of vote buying which everyone claims to
deprecate. If rallies are capital intensive whereas
presidential debates, by virtue of the provisions of the
Electoral Act, are free, why then do the big parties run
away from what is free? Why should we allow such big
parties to stop the free flow of ideas among all parties
especially those that cannot afford expensive large
rallies?
Unfortunately, rather than using a political rally to focus
on the challenges of society, politicians at rallies, divert
attention to cosmetic and indeed annoying matters.
The other day, one speaker at a rally explained that
voters should not bring back the political party whose
members looted our treasury for 16 years. It was
obviously annoying that only a few months back, the
speaker in question had been a chieftain of the alleged
looting party where he served as governor for the last 8
of the 16 corruption-ridden years. In earnest, the
social environment of rallies appears to make the
speakers destroy their own parties; otherwise, how else
are Nigerians expected to appreciate the fight against
corruption if the national chairman of the ruling party
says the sins of anyone who joins the government party
would be forgiven? When the argument was that Atiku
had been barred from visiting the US, everyone clapped
for the APC, when Atiku’s eventual visit to the US was
publicised, everyone clapped for the PDP. No one
appeared to have paused to imagine how the places
Atiku or Buhari can go or not go helps the rest of us?
Based on the adage ‘ seeing is believing’ Nigerians
want to hear and see on television, not just what a
candidate says he would do, we want to hear how he
plans to do it. That is what normally happens in the US
which has a long history of presidential debate. In that
country which Nigerians often look up to and from
where we copied the presidential system of
government, the practice is that three days are set
aside before any presidential election for the
candidates contesting the election to engage one
another in a series of televised political debates that
are usually also relayed on radio. Their own debates
are not on mundane issues such as we entertain here.
Quite a large number of voters make up their minds on
who to vote for only after hearing what each candidate
offers. This is why we must urge our political class to
follow global realities and desist from taking our nation
back to the analogue days while at the same time
promising to move us forward.
We still have room for another presidential debate
where the candidates should spell out the modalities for
implementing their campaign promises. Let’s have it.
Source:
www.vanguardngr.com/2019/01/wanted-in-
nigeria-another-presidential-debate/
