APGA expresses dismay over exclusion from Presidential debate
By The All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) is distraught over the decision of the Nigerian Election Debate Group (NEDG) and its partner Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON)to exclude the party from the Presidential Debate, which kicked off last Friday with the Vice Presidential debate.
APGA through its National Chairman, Ozonkpu Victor Oye, on Tuesday expressed the party’s disappointment over the exclusion in a letter of complaint addressed to the organisers and copied to the Chairman of Channels Television, Tony Momoh, stressing APGA is the third largest party in the country and deserved to be included in the debates.
The organisers of the debate had selected only five political parties namely, the All Progressives Congress (APC), the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), the Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN), the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the Young Progressive Party (YPP). They organisers had blamed the exclusion of other parties in the debate on lack of funds.
APGA in the statement however, said “It is an established fact at present that our Party, the All Progressives Grand Alliance, is the third largest Political party in Nigeria, therefore, it should have been part of the debates no matter whatever procedure or yardstick your organizations may have used to draw up political Parties and their Candidates included in the debates.
“So, APGA ought to have been among the ones chosen, so far as the number of Parties to be involved in the debates are beyond two.
“Hence, it is our position that there was no reason for not including APGA candidates on the debates since the party is the third largest political party in the country, with a serving governor and numerous members in the state and national legislative assemblies”, the letter said.
The APGA chairman therefore urged the organizers to look into the matter dispassionately with a view to accommodating the party and its candidates in the next round of debates holding on January 19, 2019.
Innocent Odoh, Abuja