“Towards ensuring that the debate retains its integrity, we have invited the organised private sector, other Christians and other religious bodies…”
Chinelo Obogo
The governorship candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC), in Lagos State, Jimi Agbaje and Babajide Sanwo-Olu, will be among the 10 candidates, who will take part in a debate to be organised by the Lagos West Diocese of the Anglican Communion.
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The Bishop in charge of Archbishop Vining Memorial Church, Rt. Rev. James Odedeji, confirmed that 10 governorship candidates had indicated willingness to take part in the debate, which would take place on January 14, 2019 at the church premises.
He said the debate committee wrote letters to all the candidates but only 10 have indicated interest so far.
“In line with our tradition as Anglicans, we are organising a special debate for the governorship candidates of political parties that will participate in the March 2, 2019, election. We expect the candidates to tell Lagosians their plans on social services, taxation, economy, as well as the fight against corruption among others.
“We are doing this without support from any quarters. We neither solicited for, nor received any, whether in form of financing or logistics. It is solely organised and funded by the Anglican Diocese of Lagos West, in collaboration with the Diocese of Lagos, Badagry and Lagos Mainland only.
“Towards ensuring that the debate retains its integrity, we have invited the organised private sector, other Christians and other religious bodies to witness the debate. The panel is made up of practitioners from the electronic and print media.
“Since 2007, this diocese has been organising this debate and no governor has emerged in this state without passing through this debate. The task of rebuilding Nigeria is for all and we all have the task of electing good leaders in the country.
“We officially wrote letters to all the governorship candidates, but only 10 have written back. We want to use the debate as a platform through which voters can access all the candidates and make informed decision on whom to vote for,” Odedeji said.
