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Nigeria: Presidential debate set for Feb 3, as Buhari pledges to end corruption, insecurity, inequality
Voters in Nigeria will have a chance to see the leading candidates for the presidential election, Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari, in action, during the presidential debate scheduled for Tuesday, February 3, 2015, at the Congress Hall of the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja.
According to sources, the debate will be hosted by both ARISE Television and Channels TV.
Meanwhile, the challenger, Muhammadu Buhari has pledged to cheering crowds in the opposition stronghold of Lagos that he would tackle the country’s three greatest ills – insecurity, inequality and corruption.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation and largest economy votes on February 14 for either Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) or President Goodluck Jonathan of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
It will be Buhari’s fourth attempt at the presidency, however, this time around, he enjoys much broader support than before.
As head of the military government between 1983 and 1985 he was seen as tough on corruption and in his dealings with rebellions and armed criminals.
The race is expected to be the most closely fought since the end of military rule in 1999, and the majority ethnic Yoruba southwestern states, which voted for Jonathan last time, are seen as crucial swing states. Civilian rule has since been dominated by the PDP, so its loss at the ballot box would signal an unprecedented shake up of the country’s democracy.
Jonathan was earlier viewed as an easy victor but the momentum has shifted to the opposition in the last few months, with Buhari drawing appeal from a mix of middle class intellectuals fed up with corruption, unemployment, and the growing insecurity largely caused by Jonathan’s administration’s seemingly lacklustre approach in dealing the the al-Qaeda-linked Boko Haram disturbance.
“The APC has identified three fundamental problems: insecurity; the concentration of the economy (in few hands) and bribery and corruption,” Buhari told thousands of supporters in a packed stadium, many of them wearing T-shirts or traditional, vibrantly colored robes depicting his face and that of running mate Yemi Osinbajo.
Many supporters were bussed to the venue in APC decorated vehicles also with the beaming faces of the duo splashed over them.
Buhari, a northern Muslim, said he would first tackle the insurgency in the northeast of the country, where Sunni jihadist group Boko Haram has killed thousands in its attempt to carve out an Islamic state in Africa’s biggest economy.
Jonathan has been criticized for not doing enough to protect civilians from Boko Haram and for failing to defeat the insurgents.
The president, a Christian and former zoology lecturer from the oil producing Niger Delta, blames his predecessors for starving the military of funds for fear it might stage a coup.
Buhari said he would focus on increasing the number of jobs for young people at a time of high youth unemployment, and that his administration would reinvest the money saved from cracking down on corruption into revamping education.
Source: Agencies