Muhammadu Buhari, Atiku Abubakar and other candidates contesting in the 2019 presidential election have been scheduled to debate on January 19, 2019, by the Nigerian Election Debate Group and the Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria (BON).
Vice presidential candidates are also scheduled to debate themselves on December 14, 2018.
BON chairman, John Momoh, made the disclosure at a press conference in Abuja on Thursday, November 22, 2018.
According to him, the debates will hold at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja and will be broadcast live by all BON member radio and television stations across the country. The debates will also be streamed live across social media platforms.
The two leading candidates for the election are President Buhari who’s running with vice president, Yemi Osinbajo, on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Atiku, a former vice president, who’s running with a former Anambra State governor, Peter Obi, on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
While next year’s election, scheduled for February 16, 2019, is expected to be keenly-contested between Buhari and Atiku, they both face competition from other candidates including Donald Duke of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Kingsley Moghalu of the Young Progressive Party (YPP), Obiageli Ezekwesili of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), Fela Durotoye of the Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN), and Omoyele Sowore of the African Action Congress (AAC).
79 candidates will contest in the election, the highest number ever in Nigeria’s electoral history. Not much is known about how many will be allowed to participate in the debate.
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