Election debates, which should naturally be an integral part of the electoral process, have continued to receive negative reviews in Nigeria and could be thrown into the gutter when the fight for political supremacy commences in the build-up to the 2027 presidential elections.
An indication of the diminishing value of election debates in Nigeria came to the fore on September 15 in Edo State, Nigeria, after governorship candidates of the All Progressives Congress and the People’s Democratic Party failed to show up for a debate.
The South South state went to the polls on Saturday, September 21, 2024, to elect a new governor and eventually capped off a difficult off-cycle election that saw so much bad blood between three of the main candidates and their backers.
Monday Okpebholo (APC), Asuerinme Ighodalo (PDP) and Olumide Akpata of the Labour Party, were supposed to use a debate stage to sway voters into voting for them before the hotly contested election took place, but the APC and the PDP men decided to rain on people’s parade.
Thereafter, disappointed organisers of the debate, the Nigerian Union of Journalists and the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria, including would-be viewers on the all-important day the debate should have held, were left reeling in bemusement.
It, therefore, led the Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Elections Debate Group, Eddie Emessiri, to condemn the last-minute withdrawal and then appeal to Edo voters to demand accountability from those seeking political offices in the state.
Besides Emessiri’s criticism, a famous political activist from Edo state, Aisha Yesufu, who was also frustrated by the action of the APC and PDP candidates, had a few choice words for them.
Yesufu told Edo people at the venue of the abandoned debate, “Let me tell you something, the people that you have (in government), the APC and the PDP, are ready to give us bad governance.
“They are ready to suppress us. Their parents suppressed our parents. They have suppressed us and we must not allow them to suppress us and oppress our children.
“This Nigeria belongs to all of us and we must get a country and a state where the child of nobody can become somebody without knowing anybody.”
Some political commentators have said that the likes of Okpebholo and Ighodalo should not be entirely blamed for their flagrant decision to skip the debate.
According to these commentators, political leaders in the country, especially the ones that graced the polity since the start of the Fourth Republic in 1999, are notorious for not attending debates even if their lives depended on it.
Astoundingly, practically every Nigerian leader that contested and won a presidential election has, one way or the other, avoided a debate or two.
From Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Yar’Adua, Goodluck Jonathan, Muhammadu Buhari and even incumbent President, Bola Tinubu, the story is the same.
In 1999, Obasanjo blamed his failure to turn up for a presidential debate on “lack of proper invitation.”
At the time, the former military Head of State, who left his opponent, Olu Falae, to debate alone, denied having “shied away” from the debate.
By 2007, Obasanjo’s successor, Umaru Yar’Adua, also missed the debates. Only the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party’s candidate, Buhari, and Pat Utomi of the African Democratic Congress, slugged it out.
In 2011, Jonathan and Buhari could not spar on the debate stage because Buhari had attended the first of two debates organized for presidential candidates and Jonathan did not.
When it was time for the second debate, Jonathan was present at the venue but Buhari and other opposition candidates were absent.
Buhari later said he did not attend because Jonathan failed to attend the first debate.
In 2015, Buhari declined the offer to attend any debate. His party, the APC, said some Nigerian media organisations were compromised. The party also questioned the “independence” of some organisers of the debate.
Although Buhari won the election in 2015, he did not attend any debate in 2019. His rival, PDP’s Atiku Abubakar, said he would not attend the debates Buhari failed to honour.
Before the last presidential election in 2023, opposition presidential candidates, Atiku (PDP) and Peter Obi (LP) called for a debate with the candidate of the APC, Tinubu, but that request was not granted.
Tinubu’s team resolved, because of the many radio and television networks in Nigeria that indicated to host such debates, not to give any TV station preference. They also said the hectic campaign schedule was another reason why Tinubu would dodge the debates.
Concerning the Edo State governorship election debate boycott, a political affairs analyst, Kizito Opara, said that the disposition of political leaders to past debates influenced the decision of the APC and PDP candidates.
However, he said that in President Tinubu’s case, debates were actually avoided during the presidential race for “strategic reasons.” Opara also said that other candidates would gain some advantages over the former Lagos State Governor because he was not a “fast speaker.”
“I concur with those who have been saying that it is because of the action of the President and other notable politicians who are accused of not laying a solid foundation for debates attendance that candidates in Edo State decided to act like scared kittens
“However, if you ask me, I will earnestly tell you that President Tinubu avoided the debates during the last general elections for strategic reasons.
“Every Tom, Dick and Harry knows that the President is not a fast speaker. Against other faster speakers, he would have capitulated and found it really difficult to keep up with them. In fact, time will always be against him when he is putting his thoughts together into words on the debate stage.
“His handlers, during the campaign, knew this and so they vetoed every outing that involved a debate.
“Who has debates helped in Nigeria? I think debates are a waste of time in Nigeria. I stand to be corrected, but no presidential candidate who ever took part in a debate won an election on the strength of that debate”
“Very soon, the election will be upon us, and we will still see the same proceedings in 2023 play out in 2027. Anyone thinking of seeing the President on a debate stage then should thrash the idea. It will not happen.
“And if it happens, it would be very remarkable.
“I know the likes of Obi and Atiku will be very eager to debate the President. Unfortunately, they should look for other means of beating Tinubu. It certainly won’t be through a debate.
A seasoned socio-political commentator, Chidi Egbule, told The Point that debates have never helped candidates during presidential elections in Nigeria to clinch victory.
In his assessment, Nigerians only vote for political parties and not what a candidate would articulate during a debate.
“Who has debates helped in Nigeria? I think debates are a waste of time in Nigeria. I stand to be corrected, but no presidential candidate who ever took part in a debate won an election on the strength of that debate.
“Let me repeat myself, no presidential candidate has ever won an election based on what he articulated to Nigerians during a debate.
It has never happened. And do you know why? It is because people only vote for political parties in this part of the world.
“On the contrary, in many foreign countries, candidates have used debates to gain much-needed lead in opinion polls and used that momentum to win elections. In Europe and America, how you perform in a debate can change the course of your candidacy for the best.
“Look at, for instance, what Donald Trump of the Republican Party and Kamala Harris of the Democratic Party did with their own debate.
“Over 61 million viewers watched it because it could either make or mar any of the two candidates.
“Here in Nigeria, nobody cares about what you plan to do for the country. Nobody also cares about what you say. We were here when they asked a particular candidate in Edo State to come to a debate and pass his message on the debate stage using Pidgin English.
“You see, as long as you can distribute 10kg bags of rice to our people, you are the best debater,” he said.
Egbule also said that another way to determine candidates’ fitness was through a debate.
“The debates, too, would have helped us to know which candidates are healthy and fit. The debate between Trump and Harris also told us a lot about their staying power.
“Both American candidates stood up for more than 90 minutes.
Trump who is 78 years old was also noted to be agile, sharp and fit. Through that debate, we saw that he was healthy and rearing to go.
“Can we say all that for our leaders? We surely have a long way to go,” he submitted.
