Ahead of the 2019 presidential election, the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) has challenged President Buhari to a live, one-on-one debate
with its Presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, on critical sectors of
our national life.
The PDP also called out President Buhari for neglecting our troops
fighting in the North East and reneging on his promise to “lead the
fight from the front”, resulting in the vulnerability and killing of our
soldiers by insurgents. Nigerians are aware that President Buhari has
been mortally afraid of facing our candidate, Atiku Abubakar, in a
general debate organized by independent bodies.
For this, the PDP grants him the liberty to choose a venue, date and
time convenient to him to face our candidate before a neutral panel.
President Buhari must face Atiku Abubakar in person, as Nigerians are
not ready to accept any representation, whosoever, from him. If, as a
Commander-In-Chief, Mr President cannot face a political debate, how
then can he vigorously engage international competitors?
Nigerians can now see why our nation has been under peril in the last
three and half years. President Buhari should be ready to face his
failures and avail Nigerians of his sectoral performance scorecards, as
well as, present his future blueprint, if any, to enable the electorate
weigh him alongside our Presidential candidate.
Mr. President should explain why he has been insensitive to the
killing of citizens and soldiers by marauders and insurgents,
particularly, given allegations that he has been distracting the Armed
forces by dragging them to participate in his re-election campaign.
Nigerians recall that at the time our troops were being attacked by
insurgents, our Service Chiefs were attending the launch of President
Buhari’s “Next Level” campaign mantra, stolen from a foreign institute.
Nigerians await President Buhari to answer for the humongous
corruption in his administration; why he has failed to fulfill any of
his 2015 campaign promises and why he cannot show any key development
project he initiated and completed in his three and half years in
office. President Buhari must be ready to face the over 40 million
Nigerians who lost their jobs and millions more whose businesses have
folded up due to his incompetence and harsh economic policies.
He must face the victims of human rights violations, extra-judicial
killings, illegal arrests and arbitrary detention under his
administration. President Buhari came to power through false promises
and propaganda. Now, the day of reckoning has come and he cannot run
away from his failures.
On our part, our candidate is ready to face President Buhari,
one-on-one. He has his scorecard in governance and his blueprint for
national rebirth; wealth creation, youth empowerment and building a
prosperous nation, which has become dominant among the aspirations of
Nigerians.