Candidate That Avoids Presidential Debates Should be Disqualified – Pat Utomi

Professor Pat Utomi, a political economist, urged on Saturday for the disqualification of any candidate who skips debates before the general elections in 2023.

Additionally, he urged Nigerian voters to exercise their right to vote against candidates who refuse to show up for debates.

Utomi noted that debates provide the public a chance to evaluate the intentions and abilities of candidates before to the polls while speaking to media in Abuja.

“The fortunes of South Korea were turned around because the electoral commission was so despondent about the quality of their politics that they decided that the thing that should matter the most for elections are debates between candidates,” he said.

“So it became entrenched in the conventions of South Korean politics. Before anybody goes to an election, they would have had a series of debates on the streets, in town halls, on television to define South Korean elections.

“Once debates came to define elections, moneybags and all kinds of criminals and charlatans ran away and their electoral process became one of a sustained, enormously developed country.

“So any politician that refuses to make this fundamental contribution to the democratic process should be considered unfit, unable and unwilling to participate in the democratic process.”

Utomi contends that on election day, the electorate should disqualify the candidate if the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) lacks the guts to do so.

The date for the presidential and National Assembly elections was set by INEC as February 25, 2023. On March 11, 2023, the gubernatorial and state legislature elections are anticipated to take place two weeks later.

The electoral authority set the start date for the 2022 presidential elections as September 28, 2022.

Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Atiku Abubakar of the major opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and Peter Obi of the Labour Party were predicted to compete closely in the 2023 presidential election (PDP).

As to who wins the 2023 presidential elections, it is left to the Nigerian electorate to decide.