Obi Will Debate With One Of My Spokespersons, Not Me – Tinubu

By Gideon Njoku

Those waiting to see the day the Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Bola Tinubu, would have a debate, on issues, with the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, should perish the thought. They will wait forever because it would never happen.

Tinubu said he would never debate with Obi. He said that one of his Spokespersons would, instead, debate with Obi. And even then, it would be if, and when, Obi meets certain conditions.

This was contained in a statement issued Tuesday, November 29, 2022, by the Spokesperson for the Presidential Campaign Council of the APC, Festus Keyamo, SAN.

Among the conditions Keyamo listed is that Obi must release his manifesto. Others include that Obi must disclose what role he played during the Military regime to return democracy to Nigeria, as well as name of any political party he founded, or partnered, and stayed in till date.

The statement also added as one of the conditions that Obi must name his achievements during his two-term tenure as the Governor of Anambra State.

Nigerians have been accusing Tinubu of “dodging” a public debate with other Presidential candidates, including Obi. He has managed to escape being on the same stage with them, and also avoided honoring invitations from a couple of electronic media for a lone interview.

Not a few people attribute that to the many gaffes by Tinubu at every Presidential rally he had addressed in the past couple of weeks. Rhey allege, that he is afraid of being interrogated on different issues, including personal ones.

But Keyamo thinks differently. In shielding Tinubu from a debate with Obi, he said: “They have no manifesto, so what are we debating? What documents are we comparing? He said Nigerians should depend on what is in his brain, not on documents.

“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 State 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 a 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 belongs to today.

“Then, he should list his democratic credentials, that is what he did to contribute to the return of democracy from Military rule and what he has since done better than Asiwaju to sustain democracy.

“After all these, we shall send one of our Spokespersons to debate with him.”