Once more, Tinubu says he won’t take part in the presidential debate on Arise News

Bola Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for president, has reiterated his decision to abstain from the Presidential Town Hall event being hosted by Arise News.

In a statement sent by Bayo Onanuga, the director of media and public relations for the APC Presidential Campaign Council, on Saturday, Tinubu also urged his followers to boycott the television network.

In the same statement that noted that Tinubu had travelled to London for a more significant engagement, PlatinumPost reported that Arise News had been accused of being biased towards the APC presidential candidate.

The full statement went as follows: “We find it shocking and downright anomalous that Arise News continues to broadcast the participation of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Presidential Candidate for the All Progressives Congress, in its Presidential Town Hall meeting scheduled to take place on 4 December 2022 despite our earlier statement that our candidate will not be available.

“We have observed that Arise News has also been waging a campaign on the alleged constitutional necessity of the presidential contenders to take part in its debate by questionable referencing section 22 of the Nigerian Constitution on the responsibilities of the Mass Media.

“While it is cliché to say that the media has a clear constitutional obligation to hold public officials accountable to the public and to serve as the watchdog of society, there is no provision in the Constitution and Section 22 that mandates that a presidential candidate from any political party, least of all Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, participate in any media-organized event, including the Arise News Town Hall.

“The same Constitution guarantees the freedom of organization and free speech to all Nigerian citizens, including Asiwaju Tinubu.
As he seeks Nigerians’ approval to become the nation’s next president, the APC presidential candidate has the freedom to choose the places he travels and the activities in which he takes part.

“Asiwaju Tinubu will not participate in and will not attend the Arise News Town Hall meeting scheduled for Sunday, December 4, 2022, or any other events it may arrange before the February 2023 presidential election, we want to make plain once more.
We want to be clear that Arise News has a history of bias towards Asiwaju Tinubu, and we don’t think the outlet is trustworthy or unbiased.

The APC presidential candidate has his itinerary of events both inside and outside of Nigeria for his campaign.
One of them is his scheduled speech on security, economy, and foreign policy at Chatham House in London on Monday, December 5, 2022.

“Asiwaju Tinubu left early on Saturday for an earlier-than-expected engagement in the United Kingdom. We wish to stress once more that no amount of extortion, coercion, media bullying, or innuendos by the owner and management of Arise News will alter the stance that our campaign has adopted on this issue.

We take advantage of the occasion to advise our spokespeople and supporters to avoid this station due to its ongoing unprofessionalism and prejudice towards our candidate and party.