Okonkwo challenged both candidates by shaping the debate around issues, especially on insecurity, economic problems, and the two leading candidates’ capacity for leadership. Metuh and Mohammed were also asked to describe positive attributes of their competitors. “I believe that Mr. Jonathan is a very humble man and means well for the country,” Mohammed said of President Jonathan. Metuh responded apprehensively by saying that presidential candidate Buhari was “very good at pretending” and faking his behavior, and that this was a good quality.
The national publicity secretaries of the two leading political parties in Nigeria, Mr. Olisa Metuh of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Mr. Lai Mohammed of the All Progressives Congress (APC), debated in an event exclusively broadcasted on SaharaTV. Rudolf Okonkwo, a leading columnist and presenter at SaharaTV moderated the hour-long session.
Mr. Okonkwo challenged both candidates by shaping the debate around issues, especially on insecurity, economic problems, and the two leading candidates’ capacity for leadership. Metuh and Mohammed were also asked to describe positive attributes of their competitors. “I believe that Mr. Jonathan is a very humble man and means well for the country,” Mohammed said of President Jonathan. Metuh responded apprehensively by saying that presidential candidate Buhari was “very good at pretending” and faking his behavior, and that this was a good quality.
Mohammed, when challenged by Metuh that the APC campaign has offered no alternatives to PDP policies, responded by suggesting that the main problem in Nigeria was a lack of leadership by President Jonathan and PDP. Metuh defended the president’s record by arguing that “federal highways, railways running in the country, and the fact that we’ve established 14 universities in the country—nine of them in the north” as well as fighting off Ebola justifies President Jonathan’s record.
On the issue of Boko Haram, Metuh defended the Jonathan government saying it “has done very well in confronting something that was” never planned for in its original manifesto, and has “offered ceasefire, to dialogue with them, and trying to equip and rearm the armed forces.” Metuh added that “containing them in the north is an achievement.”
Mohammed claims that PDP has seen the Boko Haram crisis as a political issue, rather than a real issue. “Burhari would train and take an audit of the security forces” to make them effective in dealing with the threat, as well as work with the international community.
Both parts of this debate can be viewed on the SaharaTV YoutTube channel.