Political economist, Prof. Pat Utomi has called for the disqualification of any candidate who failed to feature in election debates.
Utomi told journalists in Abuja at the weekend that the Nigerian voters should use their power to vote against such candidates.
One of the arrowheads of the campaign for Peter-Obi-for-President movement, Utomi said that debates provide the electorate with an opportunity to assess the plans and capacity of candidates ahead of the elections.
He said: “The fortunes of South Korea were turned around because the electoral commission was so determined about the quality of their politics that they decided that the thing that should matter the most for elections are debates between candidates.
“So it became entrenched in the conventions of South Korean politics. Before anybody goes to an election, they would have had a series of debates on the streets, in town halls, on television to define South Korean elections.
“Once debates came to define elections, moneybags and all kinds of criminals and charlatans ran away and their electoral process became one of a sustained, enormously developed country.
“So any politician that refuses to make this fundamental contribution to the democratic process should be considered unfit, unable and unwilling to participate in the democratic process”.
According to Utomi, if the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) does not have the courage to disqualify such a candidate, the electorate should do so on election day.
The national elections — presidential and National Assembly — will be conducted on 25th February next year, while the state polls for the governorship and state assembly are to be conducted a fornight later.
