Kaduna 2019: SDP candidate demands governorship debate

The Social Democratic Party (SDP) gubernatorial candidate in Kaduna state, Haruna Saeed, on Tuesday challenged Governor Nasiru El-Rufai and other governorship candidates to a debate on their plans for the state.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that a total of 30 candidates, including that of the main opposition party, Isa Ashiru, are vying for the governorship seat in the state in 2019.

Mr Saeed, a former Accountant General of the state, threw the challenge at a press conference on Tuesday in Kaduna.

He said the debate is very important in educating voters to make informed choices during the election.

“Debate is one of the avenues for people to listen to the candidate and make up their mind, because when somebody advertises a product; he tells you the qualities of the products.

“The first thing every electorate wants to see from the product (candidate) that he/she is trying to pick is how convincing that person is.

“He could be a good leader, but people cannot rate them simply based on campaigns or radio jingles, they need to listen to others on the same platform so as to effectively rate each of the candidates,” Mr Saeed said.

He said the debate would also afford the electorate the chance to ask and get answers from the candidates.

Mr Saeed who had aspired for the governorship in 2011 and 2015, said he dumped the All Progressive Congress (APC) because he was not satisfied with the way things are being done.

“My leaving was due to a clarion call from my supporters. We cannot continue to live in the same old fire burning us beyond our tolerance level.

“People have called on us to come and see if we can salvage the situation so we are answering the call of a number of people that is why we are contesting.

He was confident of victory, claiming that Nigerians no longer trust the major political parties, APC and PDP.

“PDP has failed. Although it is not the party that failed, but the composition of the party. And the party has not changed in terms of its composition.

”Concerning APC, we complained bitterly in the past why the party had been poorly managed and the incapacity of the party.

“A party should be able to determine how the government would be run not by an individual. People need a party where they can play politics openly.”

(NAN)