The Arise TV town hall debate, according to the Media and Communication Directorates of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), led by Dele Alake and Bayo Onanuga, is planned by Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of THISDAY and Arise News Television, Nduka Obaigbena, to embarrass Tinubu, the APC’s flagbearer.
In a statement they both co-signed in reaction to Obaigbena’s most recent declaration, Onanuga and Alake claimed that the Peoples Democratic Party funds the town hall gatherings on Arise TV (PDP).
Our resolute stance against his blackmail to have Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu appear on Arise TV and its PDP-sponsored Town Hall meetings was described as an attack on free speech in Obaigbena’s first statement against us, according to the statement.
Part of the statement states, “Despite our position that our candidate is already using another communications campaign to reach the most important target: the Nigerian voters, he was still determined that our candidate must attend his town hall debate.
“We, repeat: We will not make our candidate available to legitimize a scheme that, in light of unflinching facts at our disposal, is nothing more than a ruse by the owner of Arise TV intended to humiliate our candidate,” the statement reads.