‘Jonathan Has Nothing To Offer Nigerians’

The refusal of President Jonathan to honour the invitation to a presidential debate has drawn the ire of some members of the Lagos State House of Assembly.

The members have accused him of shying away from the debate because he had nothing to offer the country and that he had only continued to buy into the emotions of most Nigerians who are ignorant of his poor leadership style.

The President had been invited for a debate by some of the presidential candidates but has refused, giving the impression that he is very busy.

Some of the lawmakers that spoke on the issue asked Nigerians to insist that Jonathan honours the debate in order to let the people know the level of his preparedness for the presidency in the next four years.

Chief Whip of the House, Razak Balogun, described the situation as very unfortunate.

“It is just a reflection of the kind of people we have at the helm of affairs in our country. We expect that at this time of our electoral process, debates should be the in-thing.

“It is very unfortunate if the current serving President is shying away from the debate. It just tells you that he does not have anything to offer and with this, if he is elected, there is no contract between him and the people, so they should not expect from him,” he said, adding that he had expected the President to be the one calling for the debate in order to outshine the other candidates.

“I have no doubt that candidates like Nuhu Ribadu would floor him. So, he probably does not want to face such heavyweights in a debate where he may expose his ignorance and ability to rule us. If he does not go with this debate, it is a clear sign to Nigerians that President Jonathan is not a candidate to vote for.

“The one we had in Lagos for the governorship candidates really showed Lagosians that the ACN has something to offer,” he expressed.

In his own submission, Sanai Agunbiade said President Jonathan should be aware that democracy changes, grows and changes because the world is dynamic, adding, “therefore, anybody who must represent a people must be able to offer himself for questioning by the people.

“They must be able to assess your emotional preparedness, your intellectual and temperamental capacity to lead, your vision and the angle from which you are coming.”

According to him, it is lamentable that some people are running away from debates.

“It is either such person has nothing to offer the people or he doubts his intellectual capacity or competence or he has something he is hiding and knows that when asked a question relating to it in the glare of the camera, he would not afford not to answer it,” he added.