Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour party, has said henceforth, he will back out of debates, his counterparts from the All Progressives Congress, APC, Bola Tinubu and Atiku Abubakar, of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, are absent.
At a news conference in Abuja, Obi’s Director General, Doyin Okupe, said even if running mates of these presidential candidates show up at such debates, he will not participate even at the last minute.
Reacting to a Presidential debate organized by Arise Tv on Sunday, the DG noted that the debate was meant for presidential candidates, not Vice Presidential candidates.
“The APC did not turn up and did not send a representative, I respect that. We will no longer be part of any Presidential debate where surrogates are sent to represent the candidate.
“We are aware that over 85 percent of Nigerians who tune in to listen to these debates listen to the voice of our candidate, Peter Obi.” Okupe said.
Obi, alongside presidential candidate of the New Nigeria National Party, NNNP, Rabiu Kwankwaso, were attended the Arise Tv presidential debate.