Tinubu, Atiku absent at Arise TV town hall meeting

Many people were disappointed on Sunday as Bola Tinubu, presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, and Atiku Abubakar, the standard bearer of the Peoples Democratic Party, did not show up at a town hall meeting organised for presidential candidates by Arise Television and the Centre for Democracy and Development.

People had expected Tinubu and Atiku to turn up and comment on critical issues and possibly tackle each other or what did or failed to do in the past.

The candidates in attendance are Peter Obi, the flagbearer of the Labour Party; Rabiu Kwakwanso, presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, and Kola Abiola, the standard bearer of the Peoples Redemption Party.

Ifeanyi Okowa, Delta State governor and vice-presidential candidate of the PDP,  came to represent the party’s flagbearer.

Commenting on the absence of the PDP presidential candidate at the town hall meeting, Okowa said Atiku took permission from the organisers to be away.

The Delta governor said, “He (Atiku) is outside the country. We duly obtained the permission of the organisers for him to be represented.

“When it is time for debates, we will get into it. But this time, it is a town hall. Atiku has asked me to represent him.”

There was however no representative for the presidential candidate of the ruling APC.

The first presidential town hall meeting focused security and the economy.