The debate organisers had said that the four candidates were selected.
The presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, has vowed to stop debates for presidential candidates being organised by the Nigeria Election Debate Group, for excluding many candidates from participating in the debates.
There are 18 candidates listed by the electoral body, Independent National Electoral Commission, to participate in the 2023 presidential election.
“It has come to our attention that the Nigeria Election Debate Group @officialnedg has excluded us from the series of Presidential Debates to herald the 2023 election, as typical they’ve settled for failed and clueless candidates. We will ensure these fraudulent debates are stopped!” Sowore said on Tuesday.
This comes barely 48 hours after the presidential debate organised by Arise Television and a group, Centre for Democracy and Development on Sunday, in which Sowore and many other presidential candidates were excluded.
Basically, only Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) and Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) were invited.
The debate organisers had said that the four candidates were selected based on the performance of their parties in an online survey done during which all the 18 political parties were listed in alphabetical order.
“The result of this survey informed our decision to invite the highest four scoring parties – LP, APC, PDP and NNPP to the town hall,” the Director of the CDD, Idayat Hassan had said in a statement.
“All 18 political parties were listed in alphabetical order. After the survey was closed, nine parties did not receive a vote.
“The remaining nine received the following percentage of votes- African Action Congress – 20.7 per cent, APC – 86.2 per cent, All Progressives Grand Alliance – 6.9 per cent, LP – 96.6 per cent, NNPP – 51.7 per cent, PDP– 82.8 per cent, Peoples Redemption Party – 6.9 per cent, Social Democratic Party – 6.9 per cent and Young Progressive Party – 13.8 per cent.”
Condemning the action of the organisers, an activist, Baba Aye said, “In a @PremiumTimesng article @HassanIdayat said @CDDWestAfrica picked 4 of the 18 presidential candidates for a town hall meeting it's organizing with @ARISEtv based on ranking via a Twitter survey. The 5th (with 20.7%) was @YeleSowore whilst Kola Abiola of the "PRP" had 6.9%.
“APGA & SDP also ranked 6.9% i.e., bhd @aacparty & even YPP. But Kola has been made a replacement for @OfficialAPCNg. This is indefensible. CSOs like @CDDWestAfrica that are supposed to be credible, should not follow such pathways of questionable bias, to say the least.”
Responding to the tweet, Sowore described the action as a conspiracy by the organisers to ensure that the best candidate wasn’t given an opportunity to talk to Nigerians.
“It is a conspiracy to ensure the best is not given an opportunity to be at these prime events, they want to keep recycling the same old failed politicians! @CDDWestAfrica @ARISEtv are acting the same script of 2019 to exclude our party. Now @officialABAT @Atiku bailed!” he said.
The exclusion of other presidential candidates of other political parties has generated outrage from the excluded candidates and their supporters.
Reacting to the decision of the debate organisers, Sowore maintained that his exclusion was deliberate, insisting that the organisers conspired to ensure that the best candidate wasn’t given an opportunity to talk to Nigerians.
“It is a conspiracy to ensure the best is not given an opportunity to be at these prime events, they want to keep recycling the same old failed politicians! @CDDWestAfrica @ARISEtv are acting the same script of 2019 to exclude our party. Now @officialABAT @Atiku bailed!” Sowore said.
Similarly, the Accord Party presidential candidate, Professor Christopher Imumolen accused the Nigerian media of bias in its coverage of presidential candidates and their activities ahead of the 2023 general elections.
SaharaReporters reported that Professor Imumolen condemned the situations where media organisations and groups had in recent months given undue recognitions to “a few handpicked parties and their candidates to the detriment of the larger majority in the area of fair coverage”, saying the trend portends grave danger for the growth of country's democracy.
"From what I have observed lately, it appears that the Nigerian media has formally decided to adopt only 4 candidates out of the 18 that have applied for the job of Nigeria's president come 2023," Imumolen said.
"I need to be proved wrong on this, but the facts on the ground suggest otherwise. The media does not give as much coverage to the other 14 presidential candidates as it does APC, PDP, Labour and NNPP, be it in their reports, news, analysis or debates.
"Now, this is wrong. It is a trend that has been going on unabated since the campaigns started. It happened during the last NBA conference, the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) conference, and recently, at the Arewa House summit in Kaduna.”
Also, the presidential candidate of the SDP, Prince Adewole Adebayo, protested against his non-inclusion in the Arise TV/CDD presidential debate.
On Sunday, Prince Adebayo on his verified Twitter account wrote, “The *Arise News* Townhall Meeting with a misnomer called Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) fake Debate for @PeterObi, @atiku @officialABAT and @KwankwasoRM is a rude joke by failed politicians and their bankrupt media lap dogs to rig the 2023 election with a cover-up.
“How can there be a ballot revolution or people decide if all they have to choose are the Liar, Joker, the Dodger, and the Corrupt? This quartet stands for the 4 sides of the status quo that Nigeria needs to get away from if we want our country not to continue to be a crime scene.
“We need Nigerians to hear from every willing presidential candidate, not a few selected by those accomplices who feed on the carcass and leftovers of proceeds of crimes via fake polls of dubious intent and opaque methodologies. Millions of voters are #ADEquate with #HopeAgain2023.”