Accord Party, APGA Presidential Candidates Protest Exclusion From Debate

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The presidential candidate of the Accord Party, Isaac Ositelu, and the
All Progressives Grand Alliance on Wednesday protested against the
decision of the Nigeria Election Debate Group and the Broadcasting
Organisation of Nigeria to select candidates of only five political
parties for the presidential debate scheduled for January 19, 2019.

The
organisations had restricted participants at the debate to the
presidential candidates of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria, Oby
Ezekwesili; Alliance for New Nigeria, Fela Durotoye; All Progressives
Congress, President Muhammadu Buhari; Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku
Abubakar; and Young Progressives Party, Kingsley Moghalu.

But
Ositelu, in a statement made available to journalists, said all
candidates taking part in the presidential election ought to have been
given opportunity of taking part in the debate.

He said by
denying other candidates the opportunity of presenting their manifestoes
to Nigerians, the NEDG and BON have unwittingly denied other candidates
opportunity to compete fairly for votes in the election.

Ositelu
said he ought to have been accorded recognition in the debate given
that Accord Party, with over 11 years of participation in the electoral
processes in Nigeria, had membership bases across the 36 states and
Abuja.

He said, “Accord Party has previously produced members of
the National and state Houses of Assembly. If such success tractions
were the consideration for rating, the Accord Party deserved better
recognition by the NEDG and BON.

“Accord Party is one of the very
few parties that could boast of nominating candidates for states and
national elections in the 2019 general elections.”

Ositelu called on the organisers of the debate to correct the bias against the interest of Accord Party and its candidate.

He said the right to debate in the electoral process should be an inalienable privilege for all the candidates.

“Anything
to the contrary would present NEDG and BON as having established
prejudices against the likes of Accord Party and will call to question
the integrity of the debate organisers,” he added.

Also,
APGA in a letter addressed to the two organisations dated December 18
and signed by the national chairman, Victor Oye, appealed to them to
include its presidential candidate, John Gbor, in the debate.

Oye
said there was no justification in the exception of the party’s
presidential and vice presidential candidates in the debates, saying
APGA is the third largest party in the country.

The letter read,
“I write to complain about the exclusion of our presidential and
vice-presidential candidates from the ongoing debates being organised by
your organisations, the Nigeria Election Debate Group and Broadcasting
Organisation of Nigeria.

“It is an established fact at present
that our party, the All Progressives Grand Alliance, is the third
largest political party in Nigeria. Therefore, it should have been part
of the debates no matter whatever procedure or yardstick your
organisations may have used to draw up political parties and their
candidates included in the debates.

“So, APGA ought to have been
among the ones chosen, so far as the number of parties to be involved in
the debates are beyond two.”

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