As campaigns for the 2023 general elections commence, various interest groups are already setting up debates mainly for the Presidential candidates running for the topmost office in the land. Despite the inconsistency in participation of major candidates in debates, there is no doubt that Presidential and Governorship elections debates have become a common feature in Nigeria’s electioneering process.
With less than four months to the Presidential elections, Nigerians may constantly be wondering the impact of election debate on political destinies and voting decisions especially in Nigeria’s political context.
Recent history shows that winners of elections either do not attend debates or when they do, they are not necessarily the best in articulating manifestoes to convince prospective voters. However, this is not to underestimate the periodic interface between Presidential, Governorship and other candidates and the Nigerian citizens who will be relinquishing their mandates and trust in return for fulfilled promises and dividends of democracy.
Ideally, political debates should be likened to a job interview session where candidates are applicants for a job of Governor of a state or President of a Country while interviewers will be host of the debate, representatives of Civil Society Organisations or citizens in the case of townhall ask salient questions that will go a long way in determining if the said candidate is qualified or experienced enough to get their votes.
Thus, feedback from political debates are expected to shape public opinion which should influence voting behaviour. This has not necessarily been the case in Nigeria as large chunk of Nigerians already made their political decisions before, during or after political debates. In my opinion most electorates are influenced by an avalanche of reasons beyond just debates. Some of these influences range from Religion, tribe, political affiliation, financial or material inducement amongst others.
This is usually irrespective of the candidate’s precedents, antecedents and public sentiments in the build up to the elections. Thus, political fanatics and supporters attend or watch election campaigns with pre-conceived mindsets which usually hinder analysis of promises and presentations made by candidates. In other cases, supporters attend campaigns in order to cheer their candidates while jeering opponents. Thus, its virtually difficult for a prospective voter to change their political decisions after an election debate.
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Unfortunately, this has motivated some major candidates to avoid important debates as it is believed that voiding debate is a political strategy by some politicians who think it can weaken their strength. According to Professor Chika Mordi, Economist and Banker, shunning debates is a political strategy. He said, if a candidate is enjoying public euphoria ahead of the poll and probably stands a better chance of winning, they are likely to avoid debates especially if they think a debate will weaken their chances. Although this may not be the reason why candidate of All Progressive Congress President Muhammadu Buhari and Peoples Democratic Party Atiku Abubakar avoided the debates in 2019, it depicts how less influential debates could be in determining political destiny.
However, even though they may constitute fewer percentage of electorates, there are Nigerians that fervently look forward to assessing manifestoes and practicability of political promises during rallies, campaigns and debates. As a matter of fact, their political decisions are shaped by direct utterances of candidates seeking to win elections.
In this vein, there is a need to revitalize Nigeria’s debate to be more participatory with more impacts on political decisions. There should be one nationally recognized Presidential or Governorship elections debate with holistic coverage where a substantial number of voters and citizens can access. Unlike the current proliferation of debates by groups and Civil Society
Organizations, there should be a nationally recognized neutral body in charge of elections debate just like the National Peace Committee who are currently the only recognized body that manages the signing of peace accord. Also, there has been consistent debates over the fact that, large chunk of voters does not even have access to Cable Television to watch their candidates speak during the debate. Thus, there are immense opportunities to stream debates in every available platform including International, National and Local media platforms and radio stations.
Debates should be elevated to a period of national importance where elections are won and lost even before the election day proper. It should be escalated to be in the form of townhalls where representatives and average citizens affected by various sectors of the country have the opportunity to ask their candidates salient questions about their plans and aspirations for the country.
Thus massive publicity and stakeholder attention on election debates will no doubt encourage Nigerians to take debates seriously and this will further encourage candidates to not just participate but prepare adequately for elections debate especially in the area of succinctly articulating their thoughts. This will also no doubt serve as a promise document and clips from promises made could be used to demand accountability as time proceeds.
Debates should not be a time for jibes, usually banters, sophistry or mundane attacks. Nigerians must not view debate as a battle between candidates or political parties but as a platform where candidates seeking elective offices present practical solutions to existing societal problems in a bid to convince potential voters to vote in their favor.
Olasupo Abideen is a good governance, youth investment and public policy enthusiast.
Abideen serves as the Kwara state coordinator of the NotTooYoungToRun movement and the executive director, Brain Builders Youth Development Initiative.
Please send comments and feedback to [email protected] .
He tweets @opegoogle.
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