Daria Media to hold town hall series for presidential candidates, running mates

Daria Media Limited is set to organise a televised town hall meeting series for presidential candidates and their running mates.

The town hall meeting, titled: ‘The Candidates’, is a conversation series in which Nigerians will hear from the candidates and ask them questions on nation building and other issues.

Aside from the MacArthur Foundation, the programme is also supported by Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) and YouTube.

According to the organisers, presidential and vice-presidential candidates from six political parties will participate in the town hall meeting.

The presidential candidates and their running mates were said to have been chosen using editorial judgment, aggregated polls by the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), occupation of elective offices, and presence across the country.

The series is expected to start on November 17 and end on November 23, 2022.

Viewers will be able to watch the conversation on NTA, FRCN, Radio Now, DSTV, Youtube, Facebook and other platforms.

Adewole Adebayo and Yusuf Buhari, of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) will feature on November 17; Omoyele Sowore and Haruna Magashi of the African Action Congress (AAC) on November 18; while Rabiu Kwankwaso and Isaac Idahosa of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) are expected on November 19.

Peter Obi and Datti Baba-Ahmed of the Labour Party are scheduled for November 21; Atiku Abubakar and Ifeanyi Okowa of the Peoples Democratic Party on November 22; while Bola Tinubu and Kashim Shettima of the All Progressives Congress (APC) will feature on November 23.

The conversation will be moderated by Kadaria Ahmed, a Nigerian journalist.

According to the organisers, each edition of the series has six remote locations in Nigerian universities, with live interactive audiences in Maiduguri, Enugu, Ibadan, Port Harcourt, Kano, and Abuja.

Speaking about the town hall series, Kole Shettima, the Africa Director of the MacArthur Foundation, said the foundation is privileged to support an opportunity designed to interact with leading presidential candidates.