Nigeria Still Waiting For Public
Political Debate
Uzo Chikere
Political campaigns are the constant feature presently. They are in vogue to the point of monotony. All the political parties and their candidates at all levels are hell bent on scoring every point against their adversaries. A close look at the campaign approach of the major political parties since the commencement of the fray reveals an exercise fraught with hate, denigration, malignance and sleaze.
The actors who are canvassing for the citizens’ votes across the country seem not to have concrete programmes to sell to the electorate. What is mainly at issue is abuse of the persons of any perceived opponents with some unprintable words that can be found in the English lexicon. The real issues that should be of interest and concern to the people are not on the front burner as the campaigns rage on. If the political gladiators are incapable of presenting to the populace sellable programmes to guarantee their votes at the polls this February, it should be imperative that as the elections proper draw nearer, the contestants should be compelled to engage in a series of public debates to be aired live on the various television and radio channels available in the land.
With greater focus on the presidential election, it would appear that a multi-legged public debate at that level involving the presidential flag bearers of the political parties in the first instance, and in the next, their running mates will be most appropriate before the elections. That the exercise ought to be extended to the other levels of the electoral contests is also imperative.
However, some private organisations and professional bodies have already embarked on staging debates among the contestants. In Lagos State, the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) chapter of the state organized one among the 17 gubernatorial candidates in the state.
The two-day live debate was part of its efforts to bring about good governance, excellence and accountability to bear on politicians and the gubernatorial candidates of 17 political parties fielding candidates for the February 28, 2015 governorship poll in the state.
The parties are the Alliance for Democracy, All Progressives Congress, Unity Party of Nigeria, Kowa Party, National Conscience Party, Progressive Peoples’ Alliance, Action Alliance and Allied Congress Party.
Others are the People’s Democratic Party, New Nigeria Peoples’ Party, Advance Congress of Democrats, Mega Progressive Party, Independent Democrat, Peoples Democratic Movement, All Progressives Grand Alliance and Labour Party.
A statement signed by the Lagos State Chairman of the NUJ, Deji Elumoye, and Secretary, Abimbola Oyetunde, the debate, tagged: “Lagos Decides 2015,” was put together in collaboration with Lagos Television.
Eight candidates featured the first day and nine on the second day, fielding questions from seasoned panelists, senior journalists, civil society groups, professional bodies, students, market men and women, artisans, commercial drivers, as well as civil servants, among others.
“The aim of the live debate is to ensure that Lagosians irrespective of his or her status is given the opportunity to ask questions from the candidates on how they want to move Lagos forward,” the statement added.
As the campaigns currently progress, the public space gets bombarded with garbage, name-calling and all manners of insult on one another. Issues relating to competence, performance and strategic proposal for solving the myriad of social problems confronting our people seem to be clearly jettisoned. Perhaps that may be why the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) last December challenged the main opposition party, All Progressives Congress’ (APC) would-be presidential candidate to a public debate with its (PDP) presidential flag bearer.
There is no indication that APC has given any meaningful response to that challenge. Since the campaigns got underway, what has been renting the air everywhere the opposition holds its rally is “sack Jonathan from Aso Rock” and intent to clamp corrupt people into prison without trial. There has been no mention of what possible strategy they will employ to stem the tide of corruption.
A robust culture of political debate, if inculcated at this point of Nigeria’s development, will not only deepen and strengthen the country’s democracy, it will also largely expose the candidates seeking elective positions to the yearnings and aspirations of the people they intend to govern as well as drumming it into their consciousness that they would be held accountable for the promises and commitment they make to the electorate.
It is mind-boggling that despite the inauguration of the Nigeria Elections Debate Group (NEDG) recently in Abuja, with a statement to the effect that the 2015 presidential debates would hold between January 28 and February 5, it has yet to take place. By the schedule of the group chaired by the Director-General of the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA), Sola Omole, the Directors-General of the Presidential Campaign Organisations of the 14 participating political parties would open the floor on January 28.
This, according to him, will be followed by the Vice-Presidential debates, billed for January 29, followed by the debates involving the presidential candidates would hold in two sessions and would climax on February 5.
According to Omole who said that the group had contacted all the parties involved, and that they all support the idea:
“We believe that debates are very important components of the democratic process aimed at giving the candidates the opportunity to speak directly to Nigerians. We want the Nigerian community to get used to the business of debating issues and we feel that this is a very strong part of building that culture.”
Increasingly, the populace is becoming of the opinion that rather than a situation, where political discourse often simply amounts to rowdy rallies and stern-faced posters of politicians pasted on bridge pillars, there should be a new direction in the area of all candidates vying for elective offices engaging in public live radio and television broadcast debate for the people to have a feel of their intellectual and articulated depth.
Amara Nwankpa, a 32-year-old activist posits that "The time for frivolous rhetoric has long passed; I think it is now time for us to soberly and seriously look at each of the candidates.”
The last memorable debate that aired across Nigeria involved candidates in an annulled 1993 election widely perceived as the country's most credible poll in its 54 years of independence. Another such programme promises to engender more confidence in the country’s democratic strides and Nigerian appear to be waiting for it to happen.
Uzo Chikere
Political campaigns are the constant feature presently. They are in vogue to the point of monotony. All the political parties and their candidates at all levels are hell bent on scoring every point against their adversaries. A close look at the campaign approach of the major political parties since the commencement of the fray reveals an exercise fraught with hate, denigration, malignance and sleaze.
The actors who are canvassing for the citizens’ votes across the country seem not to have concrete programmes to sell to the electorate. What is mainly at issue is abuse of the persons of any perceived opponents with some unprintable words that can be found in the English lexicon. The real issues that should be of interest and concern to the people are not on the front burner as the campaigns rage on. If the political gladiators are incapable of presenting to the populace sellable programmes to guarantee their votes at the polls this February, it should be imperative that as the elections proper draw nearer, the contestants should be compelled to engage in a series of public debates to be aired live on the various television and radio channels available in the land.
With greater focus on the presidential election, it would appear that a multi-legged public debate at that level involving the presidential flag bearers of the political parties in the first instance, and in the next, their running mates will be most appropriate before the elections. That the exercise ought to be extended to the other levels of the electoral contests is also imperative.
However, some private organisations and professional bodies have already embarked on staging debates among the contestants. In Lagos State, the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) chapter of the state organized one among the 17 gubernatorial candidates in the state.
The two-day live debate was part of its efforts to bring about good governance, excellence and accountability to bear on politicians and the gubernatorial candidates of 17 political parties fielding candidates for the February 28, 2015 governorship poll in the state.
The parties are the Alliance for Democracy, All Progressives Congress, Unity Party of Nigeria, Kowa Party, National Conscience Party, Progressive Peoples’ Alliance, Action Alliance and Allied Congress Party.
Others are the People’s Democratic Party, New Nigeria Peoples’ Party, Advance Congress of Democrats, Mega Progressive Party, Independent Democrat, Peoples Democratic Movement, All Progressives Grand Alliance and Labour Party.
A statement signed by the Lagos State Chairman of the NUJ, Deji Elumoye, and Secretary, Abimbola Oyetunde, the debate, tagged: “Lagos Decides 2015,” was put together in collaboration with Lagos Television.
Eight candidates featured the first day and nine on the second day, fielding questions from seasoned panelists, senior journalists, civil society groups, professional bodies, students, market men and women, artisans, commercial drivers, as well as civil servants, among others.
“The aim of the live debate is to ensure that Lagosians irrespective of his or her status is given the opportunity to ask questions from the candidates on how they want to move Lagos forward,” the statement added.
As the campaigns currently progress, the public space gets bombarded with garbage, name-calling and all manners of insult on one another. Issues relating to competence, performance and strategic proposal for solving the myriad of social problems confronting our people seem to be clearly jettisoned. Perhaps that may be why the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) last December challenged the main opposition party, All Progressives Congress’ (APC) would-be presidential candidate to a public debate with its (PDP) presidential flag bearer.
There is no indication that APC has given any meaningful response to that challenge. Since the campaigns got underway, what has been renting the air everywhere the opposition holds its rally is “sack Jonathan from Aso Rock” and intent to clamp corrupt people into prison without trial. There has been no mention of what possible strategy they will employ to stem the tide of corruption.
A robust culture of political debate, if inculcated at this point of Nigeria’s development, will not only deepen and strengthen the country’s democracy, it will also largely expose the candidates seeking elective positions to the yearnings and aspirations of the people they intend to govern as well as drumming it into their consciousness that they would be held accountable for the promises and commitment they make to the electorate.
It is mind-boggling that despite the inauguration of the Nigeria Elections Debate Group (NEDG) recently in Abuja, with a statement to the effect that the 2015 presidential debates would hold between January 28 and February 5, it has yet to take place. By the schedule of the group chaired by the Director-General of the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA), Sola Omole, the Directors-General of the Presidential Campaign Organisations of the 14 participating political parties would open the floor on January 28.
This, according to him, will be followed by the Vice-Presidential debates, billed for January 29, followed by the debates involving the presidential candidates would hold in two sessions and would climax on February 5.
According to Omole who said that the group had contacted all the parties involved, and that they all support the idea:
“We believe that debates are very important components of the democratic process aimed at giving the candidates the opportunity to speak directly to Nigerians. We want the Nigerian community to get used to the business of debating issues and we feel that this is a very strong part of building that culture.”
Increasingly, the populace is becoming of the opinion that rather than a situation, where political discourse often simply amounts to rowdy rallies and stern-faced posters of politicians pasted on bridge pillars, there should be a new direction in the area of all candidates vying for elective offices engaging in public live radio and television broadcast debate for the people to have a feel of their intellectual and articulated depth.
Amara Nwankpa, a 32-year-old activist posits that "The time for frivolous rhetoric has long passed; I think it is now time for us to soberly and seriously look at each of the candidates.”
The last memorable debate that aired across Nigeria involved candidates in an annulled 1993 election widely perceived as the country's most credible poll in its 54 years of independence. Another such programme promises to engender more confidence in the country’s democratic strides and Nigerian appear to be waiting for it to happen.
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