•Advises electorate against voting politicians who shun debates
•Ex-white house staff canvasses legislation compelling political debates
Emameh Gabriel
Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), yesterday, alluded to the importance of debate in an election, when he said the late Chief MKO Abiola won the 1993 presidential election at a debate held ahead of the election.
He, therefore, said there must be deliberate efforts by political office seekers to present themselves for public scrutiny through political debates, as yardstick to help the electorate make informed decisions in the process of recruiting public officers.
This is as a former staff White House appointee (Management and Budget) and Executive Director, Commission on Presidential Debate (CDP) Janet Brown, said it would not be out of place to consider a compulsory legislation for political debates for public office seekers in Nigeria before elections.
Fashola who spoke as a panelist at the 12th Anniversary Symposium of Enough Is Enough Nigeria (EiE) with the title: ‘On Debate and Democracy’, said debates do not only help voters make informed choices, they also encourage candidates to focus on policy issues, a conviction he claimed was widely held by observers.
The event, which was designed to celebrate twelve years of EiE in deepening the democratic values of the country and to explore how political debates contributed to democracy via citizens’ engagement, role of the media and role of political parties, featured key media personalities, politicians and stakeholders in other fields, who deliberated extensively on the importance of political debates.
Citing how Abiola, turned the tide against his opponent, Bashir Othman Tofa, candidate of the National Republican Convention (NRC), the former Lagos State governor noted that a well-functioning democratic structure and strong political governance were central to economic development but the lack of background information about prospective public officers before elections, weaken accountability and decision making.
He said giving voters access to information through debates between rival candidates could significantly improve their knowledge and increase democratic participation.
According to Fashola, who also advised the Nigeria’s electorate not to vote for politicians, who have developed the attitude of shying away from political debates, “The idea of democracy itself is not divine, it was created by men to allow participation and it requires continued human intervention
“On election day, what you see is the ballot paper, photos, possibly, the names of the candidates. This doesn’t tell you what they know about your life, whether you feed, whether they are God-fearing, whether they have empathy.
“So, it is platform like this that helps you decide ahead in making a choice or what kind of person you will be entrusting the most serious job, either in your local government or in your state, or in your country too.
“That became very defining for me as a young person in 1993. The biggest single item in the economy space in the country then was the price of petrol. And if you asked people before that election, it was thought that it was difficult for MKO to defeat Tofa given the general perception.
“But on that night, it became clear to Nigerians, who watched the debate that the most important issue about them, only one of the candidates had the consciousness about it. And what was normal for them was to gravitate towards that candidate. And I remember that was why I went out to vote for MKO that day.
“If you do a survey, even in the north, where it was thought that MKO didn’t have a link, the price of fuel was a major issue, and it probably tilted the election. This is one of the many processes for making informed choices.
“In 2007, people didn’t know who I was politically. People, who knew me were the judges and the lawyers in the court room. And they said where did you bring this candidate from? And it was clear to me that the only way I was going to connect with the people was during debate.
“I had three debate rehearsals as a candidate. With politicians, lecturers and journalists,” said Fashola, who advised that political debates should be organised in places like university campuses.
According to him, “These are the issues of accountability, honesty and which way you should go. The evidence is there. It is more of the many ways in which we can interrogate people we are entrusting with the most important job. It’s a job interview, as we (politicians) have been told.
“So, why shouldn’t we participate? How do I want to hire somebody to help me do something in my office and the person doesn’t show up in the interview and expect to get the job? So, where is my hiring power? My hiring power is to disqualify.”
On his part, Brown who joined the session virtually, said given the peculiarity of Nigeria’s democracy and the attitude of her political class, such law compelling political debate would re-enforce the value system in the polity.
She advised that the culture of political debate must be allowed to evolved by stakeholders and the media owed the citizenry the responsibility to hold public office holders accountable.
Brown expressed the need for continued political information due to the fledging democratic structures and poor media penetration in developing countries like Nigeria, where citizens often vote for candidates with little knowledge of their policy stances, qualifications, previous performance, or potential remit.
Her words: “Debate belongs to the public. Debate is priority in the US. It has become a tradition since 1976. For those of you, who are here and the journalists, it is a huge responsibility to go out there to create big stages with no commercial rate and form a conversation of two or more people.
“That’s what they can take away, that is what they can discuss, that is what they can discuss with their neighbours and that is what they will act on, when they go to the pulling unit. I believe wholeheartedly that it is important to take the debate to the people in the language they can understand. This is the opportunity for the community to come together to share its objectives and the benefits of debates.
“The media has a huge role to play in getting information from the debate to the public. This can be used in very creative and aggressive way for the benefit of the citizenry. There is every reason to look at that very seriously,” she said, noting that though in the US where debate has become a culture, it would be a reverse of Free Speech to legislate on compulsory debate.
Continuing, she stated that, “I am not an expert in parliamentary system but I think this is something that will assist Nigeria to examine, talk to powerful politicians. So, I think it’s not harmful to have a legislation that dictates all the levels about a debate, because this will change from year to year and it will continue to serve the people.”
