VANGUARD: NO REASONS ARE GOOD ENOUGH FOR NOT DEBATING

IN a serious democracy, a candidate who refuses to present himself for a major debate like the presidential debate would lose the election. 

Neither his reasons, nor his name would be important in the public reaching the decision on this. 

He would suffer the consequences of ignoring the public, and his party would be entangled in the resulting public odium his decisions would generate.

A public debate, delivered to Nigerians in a live broadcast, is important to Nigerians. It offers them a chance to have candidates under one roof and assess them, away from the sentiments and emotions that are being wrapped round issues that could decide the outcome of the elections. 

It is a great platform that candidates should embrace to address the people. Nigerians are about to decide their future.

What better way is there to decide than to have the candidates in a debate among themselves?

People make the cases for most candidates. We have read the endorsements, the advertisements. 

The jingles are on the airwaves. All over the cities and our hamlets, posters of candidates trail our eyes.

A debate is a natural sequence in communication between candidates and voters. A debate would reveal more about candidates for viewers and listeners to judge them. 

Is there a tenable reason for not participating in the debate with potentials to reach the largest numbers of Nigerians through a network created from public and private radio and television stations? 

Reasons could abound for the All Progressives Congress, APC and its candidate, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari (ret) refusing to participate in a debate with other presidential candidates.

A frequently given one is that a documentary some television stations aired about the APC presidential candidate was an indication of the type of treatment he could get at the debate. 

We think the links are too far-fetched. The Nigeria Election Debate Group, co-ordinating the debate, is different from the stations that aired the documentary, which one of the candidates produced, and bought air time for its airing. 

We hope APC would change its mind and permit voters a more direct assessment of its presidential candidate. 

No reasons are enough to justify his absence from the debate so long as his security and safety are not at risk. 

Since APC did not cite these as reasons for its proposed absence, it should be at the debate.

The change Nigerians want, the change that Nigerians need, includes attitude of our leaders. 

Change would begin with leaders listening to and engaging the people. There is hardly a better time for that engagement than now; there is hardly a better forum than a public debate that would pit the candidates against themselves.