Presidential Debate Not Optional

In most advanced western democracies, including the United States of America (USA), Presidential debates, though not constitutionally mandated, have become an intrinsic part of the election process. In those cultures, the debates are targeted mainly at undecided voters; those who tend not to be partial to any political ideology or party.

On record, the first real presidential debate in the USA didn’t take place until 1960 between John Fitzgerald Kennedy of the Democratic Party and Richard Nixon who was the Republican Party flagbearer. The debate was remarkable because it was the first to be televised in the political history of the country.

In the American system of which the Nigerian version is a poor photocopy, the people are given the opportunity to know the candidates right from the primaries which covers all the component states of the country. In that country, issues are ideologically defined. Not so in Nigeria where a few delegates are paid to choose for the rest of the country based on primordial sentiments lacking in patriotism.

When Nigeria returned to democracy after many years of military rule, there was a feeble attempt to stage debates among the presidential candidates. Ironically, not much has been achieved from that effort.

Even as the campaigns for the 2023 election are ongoing, there are plans for the candidates to engage themselves somewhat in debates to enable the Nigerian people assess those aspiring to lead them in the absence of manifestos and clear-cut ideologies. There is resistance on the part of some candidates to participate in the exercise. The thinking is that they do not need it to attain victory in the election. They are supported by experience since 1999. In that year, Olusegun Obasanjo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) refused to debate, others did. But he, Obasanjo won. In 2003, Obasanjo refused to debate, svon. In 2011, Goodluck Jonathan of the PDP refused to debate, others including Buhari did and Jonathan won the election. In 2015, Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) refused to participate in the debate but he won.

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From this perspective, it appears that debates are not needed as part of the electioneering activity. In the opinion of this newspaper, that scenario must not be allowed to continue to play out for the simple reason that the candidates did not often have to emerge through a democratic process in the sense that the Nigerian people did not have the opportunity to know who they are before they became candidates. As always, the tickets are bought by the highest bidder who may not necessarily be the person the people want.

It is imperative, therefore, in our view, that debates ought to assume the semblance of a platform for the people to know who their future leader really is. On that platform, they are expected to speak to the people directly on national issues and how they intend to address them should they be elected. That demand was made at a recent town hall meeting organised by Arise Television in collaboration with other partners. The people insisted on listening to the Presidential candidates not their representatives.

Most Nigerians are agreed that, often, there is a mistake of perception while assessing the candidates on offer. Variables other than competence and integrity such as ethnicity and religion play overwhelming roles in the process of choosing the leader that, in most cases, turn out to be not the one the people want.

However, a new variable is having even a more devastating effect on the electoral process- Money.  Before now, the godfathers imposed a candidate of their choice on the rest of the people and dared anyone to complain. Now, the candidates impose themselves by buying the tickets. They also buy the votes and dare anyone to raise a voice of protest. To that extent, what they need, in their own opinion, is money not participation in a media debate. In the end, the people are short-changed leading to failure of governance.

The challenge for the democratic process is that the politicians are getting away with this attitude that had hurt and is still hurting the nation as a whole. But there is a preponderance of opinion urging Nigerians to avoid the mistakes of the past by not electing the wrong persons into office. Ironically, due to a combination of ignorance and poverty, the people are plunging deeper into the warm embrace of the very same malady that is plaguing the political arrangement. But they have the duty, in our considered opinion, to demand to hear from their aspiring leaders. In that case, debates among candidates, ought not to be optional.