On this day in March 2003, it was announced that All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP) presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) failed to appear at presidential debate organised by the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON). He was paired with Chief Olusegun Obasanjo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Obasanjo who turned up for the programme.
The debate, the last in the series leading to the April 19, presidential election had been attended by almost all the presidential candidates, to articulate their programmes to the electorate.
Fielding questions from the panel of interviewers, President Obasanjo gave pass mark to his administration and urged the striking members of the Academic Staff Union of the Universities (ASUU) to act more responsibly.
According to him, “university teachers had never had it so good.”
He reiterated his opposition sovereign national conference, believed by many democracy activists to be a major step towards solving many of Nigeria’s socio-political problems, saying if the nation’s nascent democracy was well managed, it could achieve the same purpose as the proposed national conference.