The All Progressives Congress Campaign Council has announced that its presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, will not attend the third edition of Arise Television’s presidential town hall meeting.
This was revealed in a statement issued by the APC campaign council’s Director of Media and Publicity, Bayo Onanuga, in Abuja on Friday.
The presidential town hall series, which the television station is organizing in partnership with the Centre for Democracy and Development, is scheduled for December 4.
See Important Aspects Addressed By Peter Obi At Arise News Presidential Debate
The third edition, which will focus on education, healthcare, poverty, and human capital, was set to include Tinubu, the Peoples Democratic Party’s standard bearer, Atiku Abubakar; his Labour Party counterpart, Peter Obi; and the New Nigeria Peoples Party’s presidential candidate, Rabiu Kwankwaso.
This comes just two days after Atiku and his running mate, Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, backed out of ‘The Candidates,’ a similar town hall meeting organized by Original Daria Media idea, MacArthur Foundation, YouTube, and Nigerian Television Authority.
In response to the Arise News invitation, the APC candidate’s camp chastised the station’s management on Friday for including him among the candidates invited to the meeting without due consultation.
A livid Onanuga described the act as unprofessional and reckless.
Tinubu, Atiku Missing as Obi, Kwankwaso Attend Arise News Presidential Debate
The statement read, “Our attention has been drawn to an advertisement by Arise News in connection with a Town Hall meeting scheduled for 4 December.
“We are surprised that the TV station listed our candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as a participant, when there was no prior consultation with him and his aides and no consent of the candidate obtained for the advertisement.
“We deem this as professionally wrong and reckless. No media organisation should arrogate to itself the right to railroad any candidate to fit into its own agenda.
“As we said in an earlier statement, the busy and hectic campaign schedules of Asiwaju Tinubu will not permit him to honour all invitations from different radio and TV stations for debate and or Town Hall meetings hence our decision for him not to start with one media organisation and later ignore the others.
Keyamo Trolls Okowa, Obi Kwankwaso Over Squable During Presidential Debate
“In the absence of a unified and mutually acceptable all parties and all candidates platform, our candidate has been speaking directly to Nigerians, since President Muhammadu Buhari launched Tinubu’s Action Plan for a Better Nigeria.
“To date, over seven town hall meetings with strategic sectors have been held across the geopolitical zones, where the candidate and his running mate have spoken about their programmes.
“These direct engagements will continue before the election on 25 February 2023. We, therefore, urge Arise News to stop using our candidate’s name or portrait in its advertisement, forthwith.”
Follow us on Facebook
Post Disclaimer
The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the author and forum participants on this website do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of Anaedo Online or official policies of the Anaedo Online.