The ruling All Progressives Congress has ruled out participating in a presidential debate with Labour Party presidential candidate Mr Peter Obi. However, a set of conditions were imposed on Peter Obi before the ruling party agreed to pair its presidential candidate with him in a debate.
The APC’s decision was in response to the Labour Party’s demand for a debate between its presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi, and the APC’s presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu.
Keyamo (SAN), Minister of Labour and Employment and Spokesman for the Tinubu/Shettima Campaign Committee, has demanded that the Labour Party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, present his manifesto, which includes a list of the number of people he has mentored to a successful point in life and who are still with him. Peter Obi was also asked to list his accomplishments as governor of Anambra State and how he contributed to Nigeria’s return to democracy.
Kayamo Festus insisted that if Peter Obi is unable to respond to their demands, he is unfit to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Tinubu in any debate.
Festus Keyamo’s statement is written in sections. “Without a manifesto, what are we debating?” Which documents are we contrasting? He stated that Nigerians should rely on their intuition rather than any document. So, what will Asiwaju be debating then? Is this campaign a prank on them? Do they believe this is a school debate and drama society?”
“However, before Peter Obi can debate alongside Asiwaju, he should first release a manifesto for scrutiny; then he should list his tangible achievements as Governor of Anambra State in comparison to Asiwaju’s tangible achievements as Governor of Lagos State.”
“He should then list the people he has mentored in politics since he was governor and who are still working with him today. After that, he should tell us about any political parties he has founded or worked with to found that he is still a member of today.
“Then he should list his democratic credentials, that is, what he did to help bring democracy back from military rule and what he has since done, better than Bola Tinubu, to sustain our democracy.”