Ahead of Sunday’s third edition of the presidential town hall meeting organised by Arise Television, the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has listed conditions his counterpart from the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, must meet before engaging in a debate with him.
Tinubu said he would engage Obi in a debate after the latter releases his manifesto for Nigerians to scrutinise. Recall that Tinubu had earlier said he would not attend the third edition of the presidential town hall meeting organised by the television station in collaboration with the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) after he abstained from previous edition.
The third edition, which will focus on education, healthcare, poverty, and human capital, is expected to host Tinubu, Obi, standard bearer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar and New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) presidential hopeful, Rabiu Kwankwaso.
Speaking through the spokesman of his campaign team, Festus Keyamo, yesterday, Tinubu said Obi should also list his achievements during his tenure as governor of Anambra State before any debate can hold.
Keyamo said Obi should name any political party he formed and should disclose those he had mentored in politics who are still with him before asking for a debate.
“Before Obi can stand shoulder to shoulder with Asiwaju to debate, he should first release a manifesto for scrutiny; then he should list his tangible achievements as governor of Anambra compared to the tangible achievements of Asiwaju as governor of Lagos State.
“Then he should list those he has mentored in politics from the days of his being governor, who are still with him now; then he should tell us any political party he has either formed or partnered to form and which he still belongs to today,” he said.
The Minister of State for Labour and Employment added: “Then he should list his democratic credentials, that is, what he did to contribute to the return to democracy from military rule and what he has since done better than Asiwaju, to sustain our democracy. After all these, we shall send them one of our spokespersons to debate with him.”
