Professor Pat Utomi, a political economist, advocated on Saturday for the disqualification of any candidate who skips the election debate ahead of the 2023 general elections.
The debates give voters the chance to evaluate the intentions and abilities of candidates prior to the polls, according to Utomi, who was speaking to journalists in Abuja on Saturday, November 13, 2022. Therefore, he urged Nigerian voters to utilise their influence to reject candidates who refuse to show up for the debate.
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Utomi contends that on election day, voters should dismiss such a candidate if the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) lacks the guts to do so.
“The fortunes of South Korea were turned around because the electoral commission was so despondent about the quality of their politics that they decided that the thing that should matter the most for elections are debates between candidates,” he said.
“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.”
