Buhari should rethink boycott of presidential debate – Chekwas Okorie

Tweet

Press Release

Abuja, Nigeria: January 30, 2015: The late Nigerian human rights activist and one of the founding fathers of independent Nigeria, Chief Mbonu Ojike, once told Nigerians to “boycott all boycottables” during the struggle for political independence from Britain.

Inherent in that famous instruction was the fact that certain things are not boycottable. According to Chief Dr. Chekwas Okorie, the presidential candidate of the United Progressive Party (UPP), the scheduled presidential debate between all 14 presidential candidates and their running mates is one such event in the current development of democracy in Nigeria that should not be boycotted.

“The news that the APC presidential candidate, General Buhari (retd.), will not participate in the scheduled debates is a great disappointment,” Okorie said today in Abuja.

Okorie made these remarks in reaction to a reported decision by the All Progressives Congress (APC) not to participate in the scheduled debates being organized by the Nigeria Election Debate Group (NEDG).

Buhari, Jonathan, and Okorie were scheduled to go mano-a-mano in the third session of the debates scheduled for February 8, 2015. It is an encounter that the UPP candidate had looked forward to because the match-up was consistent with independent poling around the country that identified President Jonathan’s PDP, General Buhari’s APC, and Chief Okorie’s UPP as the three most serious contenders in the highly anticipated general elections to choose Nigeria’s next president for a four-year term.

Okorie went on to say that he does not find the rationale given by the APC for withdrawing from the debates convincing. 

The Chekwas Okorie Presidential Campaign Organization (COPCO) believes the leadership of the most significant and largest democracy on the African continent should not be acquired by avoiding what may be difficult questions.

“My Vice Presidential candidate, Barrister Bello Umar (SAN) and I are ready for the debates,” Chekwas assured; “I urge my compatriot, General Buhari, to reject his advisors’ voices and show up for the debates.  That is what the nation and the international community expect of him.”