The presidential candidate of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), Oby Ezekwesili, has asked that the candidate of the African Action Alliance (AAC), Omoyele Sowore be included in the 2019 presidential debate scheduled for January 19, 2019.
She made this known while calling for an expansion of the number of participants in the debate organised by the Nigerian Elections Debate Group (NEDG) and the Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria (BON).
The organisers had said in a statement that only five political parties would be participating in the debate.
According to a statement signed by the Executive Secretary of the NEDG, Mr Eddi Emesiri, the parties are Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN) , Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN) , All Progressives Congress (APC) , Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Young Progressives Party (YPP).
But taking to her verified Twitter handle, Ezekwesili wondered why Sowore’s party was excluded from the debate.
She noted that Sowore worked to get the youths interested in the electoral process by “crisscrossing” Nigerian universities and therefore should be part of the debate.
Ezekwesili said, “As a country with huge contingent of Parties fielding candidates for election, it does make sense to at least allow more than 5 such parties, at least 25 percent of those candidates, to participate in the most influential of Presidential Debates. #PresidentialDebates
“I especially want to see a candidate like @YeleSowore whose AAC has been diligent in crisscrossing Universities to awaken our young to engage in our Politics… #PresidentialDebates
“He is doing the country a great service because we must have that generation of Nigerians fully understand and embrace Plato’s counsel: “those who think that politics is beneath them shall be ruled by their inferiors”. #PresidentialDebates
“I also believe that candidates of APGA, KOWA Party & SDP should be part of an additional list of 5 candidates for the Presidential Debate of BON/NEDG, considering their assiduous efforts to galvanize a base of citizens to get involved in these crucial polls. #PresidentialDebates
“I hope earnestly that this will be considered by the organizers. #PresidentialDebates”
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