According to his campaign team, Bola Tinubu, the candidate of Nigeria’s ruling party, APC, may not attend any presidential debates before the February presidential election.
Mr Tinubu skipped the presidential debate organized by Arise Television and a civic group on Sunday, the APC candidate’s latest blunder.
Festus Keyamo, the spokesperson for the APC’s Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), said Mr Tinubu did not attend the event on Sunday to avoid “selective appearance.”
In a statement issued on Sunday, Mr Keyamo stated that several television stations have expressed interest in hosting similar events. Mr Tinubu, on the other hand, has no plans to attend any, preferring to speak directly to Nigerians.
“Firstly, many radio and TV networks in Nigeria have indicated interest to host such debates and out of deference to other TV and radio stations, our candidate will not be making selective appearances on some networks, whilst ignoring others,” he said.
Sunday’s debate, tagged Arise News presidential town hall series, was organized by the Centre for Democracy and Development and Arise Television.
Before Sunday’s miss, Mr Tinubu had avoided similar events by the body of lawyers, NBA, and the body of chartered accountants, ICAN. Mr Tinubu’s running mate, Kashim Shettima, attended the NBA event in his stead but the candidate had no representative in Sunday’s debate.
Although the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar did not attend Sunday’s debate, he was represented by his running mate, Ifeanyi Okowa, who disclosed that the former vice president is out of the country.
Peter Obi of the Labour Party, Kola Abiola of the Peoples Redemption Party, and Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) attended the Sunday event in person.
Mr Keyamo, in the statement, said the candidate cannot afford to attend one debate while ignoring others.
He also claimed that the candidate has other engagements and so is unable to attend the debate series.
He added that the candidate will prefer speaking directly with voters through town hall meetings and campaign rallies.