By Amanze Obi
Nigerians have just come to the sudden realization that the political culture called presidential debate is dead in their country. The death knell for the debate was sounded by Bola Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress.
Tinubu had declined to
participate in the town hall meeting put together by Arise News for
presidential candidates. He had a load of reasons for his decision. His
campaign office went further to alert Nigerians and other concerned publics
that he would not participate in any presidential debate in whatever guise or
form.
The organizers of the Arise town hall may not have envisaged this. Even if they suspected that a Bola Tinubu may not be willing to participate in the debate, they may not have imagined that he would put a stamp of finality on possible future appearances. But the debate went on regardless of that. But what turned out as a rude shock to the organizers was the refusal of the audience to accommodate any presidential candidate represented by his vice.
