‘I’m Too Busy for Your Town Hall Meeting’ – Tinubu Justifies Absence From Scheduled Debate

The Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has justified his absence at the live presidential debate held at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja on Sunday.

Out of the registered 16 presidential candidates, only 3 attended the debate/Town Hall meeting organised by the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) in collaboration with Arise Television.

The candidates include Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP), Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP), and Kola Abiola of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP).

While Tinubu was absent at the meeting, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) flagbearer, Atiku Abubakar, who is out of the country, was represented by his running mate, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa.

Speaking with The Punch on Sunday night, the Director of Media and Communications, Bayo Onanuga said Tinubu could not attend the event due to his busy schedule.

Onanuga stated that the debate clashed with a town hall meeting with agro-farmers in Minna, Niger State capital slated for Monday and could not leave the important meeting for the debate.

He said, “We are in Minna now for engagement with farmers and agro-commodities groups ahead of tomorrow. The media cannot suddenly come up with a debate and wants us to drop everything we are doing to attend it. It is wrong. We also have our campaign schedule to attend to.

When told that Tinubu could still have attended the debate since the engagement with the farmers in Minna is slated for Monday, Onanuga vehemently disagreed.

“Are we going to use a jet to travel to Minna? As I earlier told you, we are in Minna already and cannot make it to the programme. In our own case, their proposal clashes with the campaign programme of our candidate. That’s why we didn’t turn up,” he stated.

Asked if Tinubu would have attended the debate if the meeting with the farmers has not been fixed, Onanuga stated that there was a likelihood he might.

He said, “Maybe. But he is busy with some other things and he cannot leave that one for this. There are more important things.

“After Minna, we are returning to Abuja before the next engagement in Nasarawa State on Wednesday. After then, I think Calabar is up for Saturday. You can see that this week is a very busy one for the candidate.

“Again, next week, we will be in Imo State on Tuesday for a rally and zonal stakeholders meeting. It is not on Monday as some people erroneously reported. The earlier schedule people saw was just a draft, which is still subject to amendment.”