* APC campaign council explains Tinubu’s absence
The All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) counterpart, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, were both missing at a town hall series designed to enable aspirants speak on their plans for Nigeria.
However, Atiku was represented by his running mate – Delta State governor – Ifeanyi Okowa.
Of the 18 presidential candidates who were invited for the debate organised by the Centre for Democracy and Development and Arise Television, only Peter Obi of the Labour Party; Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) and Kola Abiola of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) attended the event in person.
The candidates were selected based on the performance of their parties in an online survey by the organizers, 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, said through a statement.
Meanwhile, participants at the town hall meeting rejected vice presidential candidates from speaking on behalf of the party’s standard bearers.
In a video posted on Twitter by @KnightSirdam, the participants gathered could be heard saying the vice presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Ifeanyi Okowa, would not be allowed to represent the presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar at the debate.
Meanwhile, the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council has explained Tinubu’s absence at Sunday’s town hall meeting.
Its Director of Media and Communications, Bayo Onanuga, said the event coincided with Tinubu’s meeting with farmers in Minna, Niger State.
“We are in Minna now for engagement with farmers and agro-commodities groups ahead of tomorrow. The media cannot suddenly come up with a debate and wants us to drop everything we are doing to attend it. It is wrong. We also have our campaign schedule to attend to.
“In our own case, their proposal clashes with the campaign programme of our candidate. That’s why we didn’t turn up.
“After Minna, we are returning to Abuja before the next engagement in Nasarawa State on Wednesday. After then, I think Calabar is up for Saturday. You can see that this week is a very busy one for the candidate.
“Again, next week, we will be in Imo State on Tuesday for a rally and zonal stakeholders meeting. It is not on Monday as some people erroneously reported. The earlier schedule people saw was just a draft, which is still subject to amendment.”