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The vice presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP), Namadi Sambo will today engage three other candidates in a public
debate.

The other vice presidential candidates are John Odigie-Oyegun of
the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Fola Adeola of the Action Congress of
Nigeria (ACN) and Tunde Bakare of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC).

Anthony Dara, chief executive of NN24, sponsors of the debate,
announced this at a press briefing in Abuja yesterday. He also said the
presidential candidates of four parties will take their turn on March 18. The
candidates are President Goodluck Jonathan, Muhammadu Buhari of CPC, Ibrahim
Shekarau of ANPP and Nuhu Ribadu of ACN.

Mr Dara said that the four parties have agreed in principle to
participate in both the presidential and vice presidential debates, which will
hold at the Congress Hall of Transcorp Hotel, Abuja.

Mr Dara said all arrangements for the two debates have been
concluded, adding that Jonathan Mann of the CNN and Kadaria Ahmed of NEXT
Newspapers will be moderators.

“All arrangements for the live broadcast and simulcast of the
event have been put in place and any station in Nigeria is permitted by the
NN24 and its associates to relay the signals to its audience without any
permission or recourse to the organisers,” Mr Dara said.

“The NN24 Presidential Debate is one of its kind in Nigeria as
the station is going to beam its signal to Nigerians, Africans and other parts
of the globe using its satellite transmission platform and other latest
technologies like Internet protocol TV (IPTV) and Globecast, among others.”

Limited to four

The NN24 official said only the presidential and vice
presidential candidate of four out of 19 parties presenting candidates for the
election were chosen to participate in the debates because of the spread of the
parties as well as the limited time available for the programme. He, however,
added that the programme may continue after the elections to enable other
parties participate.

He explained that the debate is part of the satellite television
station’s contribution to nation building which, according to him, should
involve everybody. He also said the company desired to contribute to the
electoral process.

Asked what NN24 would benefit from organising the debates, Mr
Dara said it is for the benefits of the voters whom he said will use their
votes to bring the candidates to power.

“The voters can hold the candidates to account for what they will promise if
they are eventually elected,” he said.