APC drops shocker: It’s insulting for Buhari to debate with Atiku, others

Romanus Ugwu, Abuja

The All Progressives Congress (APC), has described as an insult for President Muhammadu Buhari to debate with other presidential candidates for the 2019 presidential election especially the People’s Democratic candidate, Atiku Abubakar.

Reacting formally to the criticisms that have been trailing the absence of President Buhari at the presidential debate held at the weekend in Abuja, the National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, insisted that it was demeaning for president to sit side-by-side in a debate with a corrupt political party that ruined the country in 16 years.

Asked whether he actually thought that the reason given by President Buhari for not participating in the debate was tenable considering the fact that it was fixed since last year, he said: “The President does not have to give any reason for not participating in the debate.

“Let me reiterate as I said earlier, the debate is just one of the several platforms available for our candidate to engage the public. We cannot exhaust all the platforms. We pick the platforms that are most impactful and we are the one in position to determine which of the platforms we want to use.

“You want the president to debate with who? That is an insult to tell the president to come and debate with who. The debate the president is having is what he did that morning in Niger State. The people of Niger State can look forward to a brighter future.

“The people of this country can see development and projects going on everywhere they go. So, for us, these are the debates that the president is already engaging the public.

“That particular debate may be important only to the people who are seeking power but not to somebody who has a lot speaking for him already. For us in the APC, the debate though a fantastic an idea, is one of the several options for our candidate to engage the public. We have used many platforms and there are many we are still going to use and there are many options we will not use.

“Don’t forget that we had three days before that debate to sell our policies and programmes. We are not in the same class with Atiku and the PDP to come and share the stage with people who ruined this country and talk about what. We should not take Nigerians for granted because they are not stupid. We are not in the same class,” he thundered.