NO EXPO......NO DEBATE - GEJ

                                                                        
I have heard several unintelligent comments being ascribed to our president, but this particular one just took me of guards. I never knew it was this bad. I knew President Goodluck had some people around him who make ridiculous comments; example is his information minister who once said on a national television station and I quote "We want to thank President Goodluck Jonathan because he is the first president to ever bring facebook to Nigeria" end of quote. Those are the calibre of people president GEJ has around him. The issue of presidential debate came up around late January and for someone like me, it was a perfect opportunity to actually know the ideals and values all the aspirants have.

Most of the presidential aspirants responded positively to the invitation by NN24 who took it upon themselves to organize the debate except of course our dear GEJ who has something to say again. GEJ through his representative Doyin Okupe refused to sign the moU simply because his requests were not granted. President Jonathan's representative demanded to see the debate questions in advance as a precondition for participating in the event. Where in the world does that happen?

As if that was all, we later found out that the president’s spokesman demanded that there would be no audience during the debate because the president does not want to answer any question from any ordinary individual. Is that not shocking? We have watched several international debates and I am sure our president also followed the Obama/McCain showdown with keen interest. We all know the standard; it is just ludicrous and preposterous to hear all these comments being attributed to GEJ.

If the whole PDP does not understand what a presidential debate is, I can explain to them. Presidential debates are held when all the parties must have nominated their candidates. The topics discussed in the debate are often the most controversial issues of the time. The candidates usually meet in a large hall before an audience of citizens. The formats of the debates may vary, with questions sometimes posed from one or more journalist moderators and in other cases members of the audience. Debate questions are never given out; however the questions are drawn out of current burning issues which anyone one aspiring to be the commander-in-chief of the country should have no problem discussing.

Personally I used to be a great fan of GEJ and I felt he would be a breathe of fresh air like he said but of course I totally forgot the fact that he still operates under the old rotten stench called PDP and he still has the old warlord as his Godfather. The truth is, PDP's reign in Nigeria is gradually coming to an end. They have shown us that they prefer to hold jamboree and shindigs all over the country in the name of rallies rather than engage in intellectual debates. 

Just this morning, there was another twist in the whole debate issue. PDP finally gave their official reason as to why GEJ will not be attending the NN24 presidential debate. A PDP representative was invited to a morning show on one of the foremost Nigerian TV stations and he explained that the reason why the PDP presidential candidate will not be attending the debate is because he is the incumbent and it will be a shame on the country if they allow their president to be dragged in the mud. He further explained that there are some people who are hell bent on embarrassing the president based on some of his policies.

Yet another dim-witted comment; A president who is not ready to defend his/her policies to the last letter is not worth being re-elected. If truly PDP and its presidential aspirant have nothing to hide, they should see this debate as an opportunity to tell us what they have achieved so far and to defend all the allegations being levelled against them. We know great incumbent presidents who have participated in presidential debates. Presidents like Ronald Regan in 1984, George H.W Bush in 1992, Bill Clinton in 1996 and even one of America’s most controversial presidents George W. Bush went at it with Massachusetts senator, John Kerry in 2004. The excuse given by PDP makes no sense to me.

All these brought me to conclude that PDP is a party that does not respect we Nigerians, they have shown us they are dictators and not servant-leaders. Accountability is an important leadership quality. A leader that would not allow his leadership to be questioned by the people he says he is leading is a bad leader. In my personal opinion, I think the era of making empty promises are over, Nigerian are wiser and more exposed. All the jamboree rallies PDP are organizing all over the country could be a farewell party, they all should enjoy it while it last. This post is primarily based on what I have seen and heard in the past couple of weeks. Comment and let me know what you feel about the president’s withdrawal from the presidential debate.