Presidential Candidates Not Attending Debate Should Be Disqualified — Utomi

Foremost political economist, Professor Pat Utomi has called for the disqualification of any candidate found missing at the election debates.

Utomi made this call while addressing journalists in Abuja during the weekend.

He also asked the Nigerian electorates to use their power to vote against candidates who fail to make themselves available for the debate.

Utomi explained that debates provide the electorates with an opportunity to assess the plans and capacity of candidates before the elections.

He said, “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,” he said.

According to Utomi, if the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) does not have the courage to disqualify such a candidate, the electorates should do so on election day.

Recall that INEC had fixed February 25 as the date for the presidential and national assembly elections. The governorship and state assembly elections will are expected to hold on March 11, 2023.

The electoral body had earlier fixed September 28 for the formal commencement of the presidential campaigns.