The People’s Mandate Party (PMP) and its
presidential candidate, Batos Nwadike have condemned Mr Nwadike’s
exclusion from the presidential debate being organised by the Nigerian
Election Debate Group (NEDG).
Speaking in Abuja yesterday, the spokesperson of
the Batos Nwadike Presidential Campaign Organisation, Esanerovo Agbodo
said the exclusion from the debate is a ploy to kill the ambition of
smaller political parties in Nigeria. He stated that the party is
currently examining the action of NEDG with its lawyers, and will soon
head to the Court to seek redress. “We know that the decision to
exclude PMP and other political parties from the debate is the agenda
of few compromised persons in NEDG and not the entire organisations
that form the group.,” Mr. Agbodo said.
“The Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ),
Nigerian Bar Association(NBA), Nigerian Guild of Editors, Broadcasting
Organisation of Nigeria (BON) and Newspapers Proprietors Association of
Nigeria (NPAN) are all credible organisations and people oriented. So,
we are surprised with this decision to exclude some political parties
from this debate.”
He said since debates are forums to harness new
ideas for national growth and not just to win elections, the decision
to exclude some presidential candidates would deny Nigerians their
democratic rights to hear from those aspiring to the highest office in
the land. “Politics in Nigeria is no longer business as usual. You
cannot invite political parties to an activity and midway you issue a
press statement that they are no longer qualified by your own standards
to participate in the debate, without a formal communication,” he said.
“What of the time and energy we used to restructure our campaigns to
accommodate the debate? What of the psychological effects on all our
supporters across the country? We will not allow this insult to lie
low. We will seek justice and possible damages from a competent court.”
Fighting injustice
Mr. Agbodo said the first letter inviting the PMP
for the debate was dated February 5th 2011 and it has thus went ahead
to prime its supporters to look ahead to the debate, ‘only to read in
the pages of newspapers that we cannot be accommodated anymore.’ “We
will use this case as an example to serve as a lesson to other
institutions in Nigeria that you cannot trample on the rights of others
with impunity and go scot free,” he said. “We are set to go to court to
address this injustice. Our presidential candidate and our party are
respected legal entities in the constitution of Nigeria, so nobody or
group can treat them with impunity without consequences.”
