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The Presidential
Campaign Council (PCC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said
yesterday it is still weighing the option of its candidate, President
Goodluck Jonathan, participating in a presidential debate.

The director of
media and publicity of the PCC, Abba Dabo, in a chat with journalists
in Abuja, explained that the body has not made up its mind because of
several requests by the sponsors, some of which he said are not vibrant.

He said over five
different organisations have approached the council for debate and that
some of them merely want only four presidential candidates to
participate.

He listed some of
those that have approached the council to include NN24, Channels TV,
and Nigerian Presidential Debate Council (in collaboration with the
Nigeria Union of Journalists.

“Some of them said
only four candidates and we say why. What criteria are you using? Why
not all the candidates? Why do you think this one is important and not
the other one? Again, some of them don’t have the reach. But we are
still looking at the format the debate will take,” Mr. Dabo said.

The PCC spokesman
also denounced the presidential candidate of the Congress for
Progressive Change (CPC), Muhammadu Buhari, for asking Nigerians to
lynch anyone who attempts to rig the forthcoming elections.

Stating that though
Mr. Jonathan has already responded to Mr. Buhari’s call, the council
spokesman said there are other ways to check rigging without
necessarily taking people’s lives.

Not to die for

He said the PDP
will not be involved in the rigging of election, but that the party and
the council felt the CPC candidate has no right to incite Nigerians.

“He is contesting
to be the president, most likely he is not going to win. Nobody in this
country should incite the electorate to kill.

“That is why in
contrast to what he said, the president said his wanting to be the
president is not worth the blood of any Nigerian. It is an attitudinal
thing. We feel very, very strongly about people of his calibre inciting
Nigerians to do that, especially in an atmosphere like this.

“A little spark is
all it takes to cause a mayhem. It is something that had to be brought
to his attention so that it is not repeated. I understand prominent
Nigerians have approached him to say they were really not happy with
what he is doing,” Mr. Dabo said.

He, however,
advised Nigerians to protect their votes after casting them, since,
according to him, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
has made enough arrangement to ensure that the elections are
transparent.

“Everybody should
vote and make sure that your vote is protected, but it doesn’t mean
kill. There are enough sanctions; there are enough arrangements made by
INEC to ensure that these things are free and fair. People who are
going to win are going to win fairly and squarely,” Mr. Dabo stated.

Mr. Dabo also
condemned the Lagos State governor, Babatunde Fashola, for organising
counter rallies when Mr. Jonathan and the PDP presidential campaign
train came to Lagos State.

“Look at what happened in Lagos for instance. They knew the
president was going to come in and have his campaign, but Fashola
mobilised and had four counter campaign rallies. I cannot understand
how a commissioner of police would allow that. Why don’t you wait till
the president has gone? It is just to cause confusion,” he further said.