Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Bola Tinubu will not attend Arise News town hall meeting scheduled for December 4, his campaign team has said.
Director of media and publicity of the APC presidential campaign council Bayo Onanuga in a statement on Friday said the broadcast station advertised Tinubu’s inclusion in the meeting without consulting the candidate.
The statement said, “Our attention has been drawn to an advertisement by Arise News in connection with a Town Hall meeting scheduled for 4 December.
“We are surprised that the TV station listed our candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as a participant, when there was no prior consultation with him and his aides and no consent of the candidate obtained for the advertisement.
“We deem this as professionally wrong and reckless.
“No media organisation should arrogate to itself the right to railroad any candidate to fit into its own agenda.”
The campaign organisation reiterated its earlier stance that Tinubu’s busy schedule would not permit him to honour all debates and town hall meetings “hence our decision for him not to start with one media organisation and later ignore the others.”
It added, “In the absence of a unified and mutually acceptable all parties and all candidates platform, our candidate has been speaking directly to Nigerians, since President Muhammadu Buhari launched Tinubu’s Action Plan for a Better Nigeria.
“Till date, over seven town hall meetings with strategic sectors have been held across the geopolitical zones, where the candidate and his running mate have spoken about their programmes.
“These direct engagements will continue before the election on 25 February 2023.
“We therefore urge Arise News to stop using our candidate’s name or portrait in its advertisement, forthwith.”
