By Dupson Collin, 6th November, 2024
Would I be saying the obvious if I say it serves the candidate of the Social Democratic Party, Otunba Bamidele Akingboye right with the exclusion of his party from the debate organized by the Channels TV on Sunday.
On the ballot paper of INEC for the November 16 Governorship Election in Ondo State are 17 political parties and for the National TV to single out two parties and their candidates for debate, it speaks volumes of what the people of Ondo State should be expecting on Saturday 16th of November.
Channels TV must have seen the seriousness among the candidates running for the highest office in the State. The fact remains that, over 90 percent of the candidates in the race are mere pretenders, though, that is not where I am directing my pen to.
We don’t seem to value our own and the aftermath effect of such is what played out in the just concluded debate where 15 candidates were shut out and not invited to a programme that was watched by millions of viewers across the globe.
Yes, Channels TV is a National Television with a large audience but that doesn’t mean other media or private organizations can’t organize debate where both pretenders and contenders would be given equal rights to sell their various programs to the people of Ondo State.
In a lamentation statement released by the SDP candidate, OBA who was embarrassed as a result of exclusion asked people of Ondo State not to take the “ONE-SIDED debate serious but I doubt if Sunshiners listen to him as the outcome of the debate since Sunday live broadcast has become public discuss.
His words: “It has come to the notice of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) Governorship Candidate in the forthcoming Governorship Election, Otunba Bamidele Akingboye, popularly called OBA that the much advertised *Ondo Governorship Debate*, organized by Channels TV is one-sided and should not be taken serious by the people of Ondo State”.
“In a press statement personally signed by Otunba Bamidele Akingboye and made available to journalists in Akure through the Campaign Director of Media and Publicity, Charles Akinwon, Otunba Bamidele described the kangaroo debate as not the wish of Ondo people who are clamouring for a change”
It pained OBA more because Channels TV happens to be one of his favorite Television Stations. “Channels TV is one of the national stations I love so much but I am highly disappointed for their decision to limit their debate to just two Governorship Candidates in the State. This is highly embarrassing and the rationale behind this decision should be investigated. They should have extended the same invitation to all the Governorship Candidates with a view to showcasing their blueprints,” the statement added.
To set the record straight, Association of Independent Newspaper Publishers of Nigeria (AINPN) designed a pre and post Primary debate programme for political parties. The pre primary debate was an avenue for Governorship aspirants to sell his or her aspirations to members of their respective political parties and the Post Primary Debate is for all candidates of political parties who eventually emerged in their primaries.
As a reputable organization that wants the best for the people of Ondo State, letters were sent to aspirants of political parties, date picked, event hall paid for, dignitaries invited, every thing has been set for the Pre Primary Debate but the candidate of the SDP, then aspirant under PDP who suggested for Pre Primary debate was the first to back out few days to the debate, reasons best known to him.
Before we say Jack Robinson, other aspirants that have agreed to be part of the debate equally called it a day. So, why the lamentation when OBA had the opportunity to showcase himself and threw it away just because the debate wasn’t organized by Channels or Arise TV?
The AINPN debate was to be aired live as National Television Stations, Online TV and National Dailies have been contacted for coverage. Stakeholders and non partisan civil societies have been invited and just like a pack of cards, the programme crashed because it wasn’t Channels or Arise that organized it.
There’s no where it is written that Channels TV is the sole proprietor of governorship or presidential debates in Nigeria and to those that attended, it is not a passport for victory as debate in this part of the world is mere academic exercise.
Rather than lamenting exclusion, OBA and his party should channel their energy in wooing the real voters – The Elejas, Elepos, Onirus and the likes and not the elites that will stay glue to their TV on election day.
However, according to the governorship hopeful, “It is not debate that wins governorship election but the love and the desire for a change which the people are yawning for.”
Meanwhile, this piece is not written to cast aspersion or demean the candidate of SDP but to serve as a moral lesson to others that we should always endeavor to value our own. AINPN is an indigenous media platform, domicile in Ondo State with large audience but instead of our politicians to embrace them, their preference is for foreign media and national dailies, whereas the real voters read Community Newspapers and Magazines.
OBA is one man that values local media, but backing out at the wee hours to the debate, I believe he was ill advised by self centred lieutenants around him. The Channels TV Debate has come and gone, what matters now is the voters. SDP candidate and others not invited should begin House to House, Shop to Shop and Market to Market campaigns if truly they are contenders and not pretenders.
