The presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, has lambasted his counterpart, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for pulling out of the presidential town hall series titled ‘The Candidates’.
WITHIN NIGERIA had earlier reported that Atiku and his running mate, Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, pulled out the presidential town hall series titled ‘The Candidates’ scheduled to hold on Tuesday evening.
The Candidates Town Hall Series is organised by Original Daria Media Concept, and supported by the MacArthur Foundation, Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) and YouTube.
The town hall series is a two-hour live televised town hall meetings of the Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates of six political parties.
The presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Prince Adewole Adebayo and his running mate, Yusuf Buhari, participated in the series on November 17, 2022, and on November 18, 2022, the presidential candidate of the African Action Congress, Mr. Omoyele Sowore and his running mate, Barrister Haruna Garba Magashi were featured.
Sen. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso and his running mate, Bishop Isaac Idahosa of the New Nigeria Peoples Party were featured on November 19, 2022, while Mr. Peter Obi and his running mate, Dr. Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed of the Labour Party were featured on November 21, 2022.
Atiku and his running mate, Okowa were supposed to be featured on the programme by 7 pm on Tuesday, November 22, 2022. However, at 3:22 pm, the NTA announced on its Twitter page that the duo would not be participating in the town hall.
“Due to unavoidable conflicts, Alh. Atiku Abubakar and his running mate, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa of the Peoples Democratic Party, will not be participating in The Candidates Presidential Town Hall Series,” it said.
Reacting to the development, Sowore said, “See how the so-called “frontliners” are afraid to espouse their “ideas” they keep running and hiding from their shadows!”
Recall that Atiku also failed to show up at a presidential town hall meeting organised by Arise Television and the Centre for Democracy and Development. Okowa, who represented Atiku said the former vice president got permission from the organisers to be away.
The presidential candidates of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and his running mate, Kashim Shettima are expected to feature at the town hall meeting on Wednesday.