Sowore campaign asks Moghalu, Ezekwesili to boycott presidential debate

The campaign organisation of Omoyele Sowore, presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) has asked Oby Ezekwesili, Kin...

The campaign organisation of Omoyele Sowore, presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) has asked Oby Ezekwesili, Kingsley Moghalu and Fela Durotoye to boycott the presidential debate slated for January 19, 2019.

Ezekwesili is the presidential candidate of Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN); Moghalu is the candidate of Young Progressives Party (YPP) and Durotoye is of the Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN).

While the Nigerian Elections Debate Group (NEDG) excluded Sowore and a host of others from the debates, it invited Ezekwesili, Moghalu and Durotoye.

In a statement by Malcolm Fabiyi, director-general of the Take It Back movement, Sowore's campaign group, said boycotting the debate is a test of their character as voices of the new political generation in Nigeria.

"After the massive outcry that greeted the exclusion of Sowore from the presidential debates organised by NEDG, BON and Channels TV, Fela Durotoye, Kingsley Moghalu and Oby Ezekwesili sent Twitter messages asking for transparency in the selection process and requesting the inclusion of Omoyele Sowore in the debate," the statement read.

"While we salute them for their tweets, we ask them to do more. Tweets are cheap. Now that they have talked the talk, the question is will they walk the walk? These candidates know that their questions will not be answered simply because they asked nicely on Twitter. They know that they must act – with integrity, decisiveness and courage. If they claim to be part of a youth vanguard for change, this is their test of character.

"For Moghalu, Ezekwesili and Durotoye, this is the first test that they will face as voices of the new political generation in Nigeria. Each of them has acknowledged that the process that saw their emergence as debate participants was flawed. The question is this: will they be a part of this debate travesty? Will they affirm and endorse corruption by standing on a stage that was designed to fraudulently exclude authentic voices like Sowore's from the debate about Nigeria's future?

"Will Moghalu, Ezekwesili and Durotoye stand up for truth by boycotting a debate that is non-inclusive and obviously flawed? Or will their introduction to the Nigerian people be one that is aided by grand fraud and deception, enabled by the same system they claim to want to change."