President Muhammadu Buhari, the presidential candidate of the All Progressive Congress, (APC), as was rightly speculated did not turn out for the debate, now taking place at the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja. The People Democratic Party (PDP) Atiku Abubakar, who had earlier shown up at the venue of the debate had to turn back when he discovered that his main opponent, President Buhari refused to appear. Five candidates were expected to participate at the Nigeria Elections Debate Group (NEDG) and the Broadcasting Organisations Nigeria (BON) organized debate.
One of president Buhari’s supporters, Professor Itse Sagay, had said earlier that it was useless for the president to join motivational speakers in a debate.
According to reports, Atiku showed up at the venue and subsequently inside it. However, a note was passed on to the moderator just as he was about to introduce him; the moderator therefore moved on to introduce Professor Kingsley Moghalu of YPP. Atiku stayed in the audience for a while, but had to leave at exactly 7:20pm.
Those who are participating at the debate are Fela Durotoye of the Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN), Oby Ezekwesili of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), and Kingsley Moghalu of the Young Progressives Party (YPP).
