NEDG ‘not aware’ Buhari will miss debate

Although Muhammadu Buhari, presidential candidate of the All progressives Congress (APC) has said he will not attend the presidential debate organised by the Nigeria Election Debate Group (NEDG), citing the organisers’ bias for President Goodluck Jonathan, the group says it has not been officially informed of the intention of any party or group to boycott the debate.

Taiwo Alimi, founding chairman/consultant of the NEDG, said this in an interview with newsmen after a meeting in Abuja on Friday, preparatory to the conduct of the debate.

He said the NEDG had the acknowledgement copies of reminders sent out on Friday. He also assured the public that the the body still remains very credible and non-partisan.

“So far, all the political parties are attending the debate beginning from Sunday; there is no party that has written to the NEDG saying that they are not going to take part,” Alimi said.

“Just earlier today, our secretariat sent out reminders to all the participating political parties and they all signed that they received our letter. Not one is saying that they will not come; all the parties will attend.’’

He explained that the NEDG is made up of Nigeria Guild of Editors, National Alliance for Credible Elections in Nigeria, Association of Young Professionals, and National Council of Women Societies.

He also named the Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria made up of all privately and government-owned media houses in Nigeria.

“Therefore, given the composition of the NEDG since 2003, it is an organisation with integrity, with trust, with competence and with experience,” he continued.

“It remains the largest platform for debate in Nigeria and Africa. Therefore, there is no such thing about being government-owned. All the privately-owned media houses are part of the NEDG.”

He emphasised that the NEDG was the greatest platform for those who want to let Nigerians know what they would do and how they would do it.

Isaac Ighure, general secretary of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, said the meeting was to fine-tune arrangements for a hitch-free conduct of the election debate.

He said Nigerians had responded positively by sending in 6000 questions so far, which would be considered and harmonised by the Questions Harmanisation Committee of the NEDG.

He denied that the questions had been leaked to any candidate, but said the group had forwarded all the thematic areas that question may be drawn from to all participating political parties to help them prepare.

“As we speak, the committee on the collation of the question is still meeting. So, how possible is it that you will leak question that has not even been collated?

“We should dispel the notion that the NEDG is favouring some political parties and leaking questions to them: in any case, all candidate are going to answer the same questions.

“Do not forget that there is nobody scoring anybody. You are presenting your manifesto to the electorate; they are the ones to decide, not the NEDG.”

He disclosed that the group had also made arrangements with health providers to take care of any emergencies but stressed that the group does not hope for any.

Earlier in a press statement, the group stressed that no particular media house or group of media houses, government or private, was influencing the group’s activities.

Signed by Tony Akiotu,chairman, media/publicity committee of the NEDG, the statement maintained that the chairmanship of BON, which rotates among government media, was now being considered for amendment to include private media.

He said that the question template is usually made available to all parties and no party is favoured over another.