A former minister of education and the presidential candidate for the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), Obiageli Ezekwesili has challenged President Muhammadu Buhari to a 20-hour debate.
Ezekwesili said the debate will provide a platform for the president to defend the achievements of his administration or lack of it.
The former minister also said a debate by proxy should not be accepted by Nigerians.
She said that those who shy away from presenting themselves before the people do not deserve to take the position of leadership.
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Vanguard reports that the former minister said nothing less than 20 hours debate is acceptable to a country of approximately 200 million people.
She noted that the debate should be split in five sessions of four hours each, or four sessions of five hours each while the first should be held within a week of official campaign start by the Independent National Electoral Commission on November 18.
Ezekwesili said: “It appears that there is a conspiracy of the minority to trivialize the issue of presidential debate in a bid to exempt President Muhammadu Buhari from defending his performance and presenting his plans before the Nigerian people. This is unacceptable."
"The people need to know why they should vote for each of the candidates, and they need to know now."
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Make no mistake, the only people Nigerians want to hear from are their presidential hopefuls. Nigerians vote for presidents, and presidents are the ones who get the job done. Vice Presidents will not take Nigeria out of poverty.
So this is not the time to shortchange citizens with a Vice Presidential debate. Nigerians are voting for top of the ticket, not VP, and they are aware that this is what matters. Anything less than a presidential debate will be considered gross disrespect for the millions of citizens we hope to lead," Ezekwesili said.
Meanwhile, NAIJ.com previously reported that Ezekwesili had declared her ambition to run for Nigerian highest seat of power in 2019.
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Ezekwesili on Sunday, October 7, said her decision to run for Nigeria's presidency followed the grievance with the despair and despondency across the country, and the failure of governance by both the ruling and opposition party in Nigeria.
She said the above made need for her declaration an urgent national movement under the platform of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN).
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Source: Naija.ng
