The All Progressives Congress Campaign Council Sunday night justified the absence of its presidential candidate Bola Tinubu by saying the debate clashed with his commitments.
The campaign council’s clarification comes after Tinubu’s absence at a live presidential debate at the Transcorp Hilton in Abuja.
However, Tinubu’s counterpart in the People’s Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, who was said to be on his way from Morocco, was represented by his running mate, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State.
PUNCH reported that a pro-democracy think tank, the Center for Democracy and Development, had invited the four leading presidential candidates for the 2023 election to speak about their plans for the country.
The debate, broadcast live on Arise Television, should allow Nigerians to determine which candidate and political party had the best ideas for lasting solutions to the country’s challenges.
When contacted, Director of Media and Communications Bayo Onanuga told our correspondent in an exclusive phone call that the debate clashed with the Tinubu campaign’s town hall meeting with agro farmers in Minna, the state capital of Niger.
Onanuga referred to the APC presidential campaign calendar to justify his position.
He said: “We are in Minna now to work with farmers and soft commodity groups ahead of tomorrow. The media can’t suddenly come up with a debate and want us to drop everything we’re doing to participate. It is wrong. We also have to take care of our campaign plan.”
When reminded that the presidential nominee could still have appeared since the engagement in question is scheduled for Monday, Onanuga disagreed.
“Are we going to use a jet to go to Minna? As I told you before, we are already in Minna and cannot make it to the program. In our own case, their proposal clashes with our candidate’s campaign platform. That’s why we didn’t show up,” he explained.
When asked if Tinubu would have appeared at the debate had the engagement to Minna not been resolved, the campaign’s media director stated that it probably did.
He said, “Maybe. But he’s busy with some other things and can’t give this up. There are more important things.
“After Minna, we are returning to Abuja ahead of the next engagement in Nasarawa State on Wednesday. After that, I think it’s Calabar’s turn on Saturday. You can see that this week is very busy for the candidate.
“Also next week we will be in Imo State on Tuesday for a rally and meeting of zonal stakeholders. It’s not on Monday as some people incorrectly reported. The previous schedule that people saw was just a draft, subject to change.”
The presidential campaign calendar, revised again on Friday, shows that in addition to Monday’s town hall meeting with agro-farmers, Tinubu will have a dinner with his campaign godfathers in Abuja on Tuesday, while another town hall meeting on interfaith stakeholders will be held in Nasarawa on Wednesday.