Tinubu to shun Arise town hall meeting

The Bola Tinubu Campaign Organisation said its presidential candidate will not attend the Arise TV town hall.

The third edition of the Presidential Town Hall series, organised in collaboration with the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), is scheduled to hold on December 4, 2022.

According to the organiser, the edition will focus on issues around education, healthcare, poverty, and human capital.

In a statement on Friday, Bayo Onanuga, spokesman of the campaign organisation, said the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate would not attend the town hall meeting as there was no prior discussion on the matter.

“We are surprised that the TV station listed our candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as a participant when there was no prior consultation with him and his aides and no consent of the candidate obtained for the advertisement,” the statement read.

“We deem this as professionally wrong and reckless. No media organisation should arrogate to itself the right to railroad any candidate to fit into its own agenda.

“As we said in an earlier statement, the busy and hectic campaign schedules of Tinubu will not permit him to honour all invitations from different radio and TV stations for debate and or town hall meetings, hence our decision for him not to start with one media organisation and later ignore the others,” part of the statement read.

Iwok Iniobong

With years of experience in Nigerian journalism, Iniobong Iwok has built a reputation for deep political insight, compelling storytelling, and consistent, fact-driven reporting. Over the years, he has gained extensive experience reporting and writing incisive political analysis. Iniobong has interviewed key political figures across Nigeria and covered major national events, including the 2019 and 2023 general elections. A versatile journalist, he also has strong experience in education reporting and sector analysis. His work reflects a deep commitment to good governance and public accountability. Iniobong holds a B.Sc. in Sociology from the University of Ilorin and an M.Sc. in Sociology (Development Specialisation) from Lagos State University.