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Lagos State governorship candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Rotimi Odunaike, has faulted his exclusion and that of several other candidates from the governorship debate organised by the Nigeria Debate Consortium, comprising TVC, Channels Television, The Punch and Vanguard newspapers.
Only four of the 17 candidates cleared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to contest in the 2027 governorship election were invited to the debate.
In a statement yesterday, Odunaike said the exclusion of several candidates from public-facing debates ahead of the election had raised concerns about fairness, transparency and the role of the media in promoting an informed democratic process.
He questioned the rationale for limiting participation to four candidates when INEC had cleared 17 candidates to contest the election.
Those who participated were the candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Obafemi Hamzat; Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Funso Doherty; African Democratic Congress (ADC), Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Adedeji Doherty.
Odunaike said his team made several attempts to secure his participation but was informed that the selection had been restricted to the four candidates.
Meanwhile, Hamzat said that he participated in the debate to pitch his vision for the state, comparing the exercise to a job interview where leaders must align policies with citizen priorities.
He said the debate provided an opportunity for him to communicate his development agenda and outline practical steps to address the needs of Lagos residents.
In a post shared on his X handle late on Sunday, Hamzat said leadership required understanding the needs of the people and developing policies to address them.
The LP candidate said that the debate was not an isolated case, recalling that his efforts to participate in The Platform Nigeria’s Gen Z and Millennial Town Hall in Lagos on October 1, 2026, were also unsuccessful.
According to him, he was similarly informed that the four participating candidates had already been predetermined.
Odunaike said that the issue went beyond the exclusion of an individual candidate, insisting that it concerns fairness to all contestants and, more importantly, the electorate.
“Public debates should expand democratic participation, not narrow it. They should give Lagos residents the opportunity to hear different ideas, examine competing programmes and make informed assessments of those seeking their mandate,” he said.
He said media organisations and debate organisers should, in the spirit of equity and fairness, extend invitations to all INEC-recognised candidates, leaving them to decide whether to participate and defend their programmes before the electorate.
The LP candidate also said that media visibility should not become a subjective condition for participation, particularly when candidates were still developing their campaign strategies and engaging stakeholders.
