Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and Bola Tinubu, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), were both absent from a town hall series where candidates could discuss their visions for Nigeria.

Although, Atiku was represented by his running mate, Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa.

But the LP, NNPP, and PRP supporters who disapproved of Atiku’s absence heckled Okowa, saying that the event was only for presidential candidates.

They were Shouting “No representation by proxy,” the supporters prevented the programme from kicking off on time as the organizers sought a way to calm them.

Only three of the 18 candidates for president of Nigeria, including Peter Obi of the Labour Party, Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, and Kola Abiola of the Peoples Redemption Party, showed up in person for the debate, termed a “presidential town hall” and organized by the Centre for Democracy and Development and Arise Television.

However Bola Tinubu and Atiku Abubakar have no good reason for not attending the debate.

The organizers conducted an online poll in which all 18 political parties were listed alphabetically, and the candidates were chosen based on how well their parties performed.

According to the Director of the CDD, Idayat Hassan in a statement, he said:

“The result of this survey informed our decision to invite the highest four scoring parties – LP, APC, PDP and NNPP to the town hall. ”

Speaking on his plans to handle kidnapping in the country, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party said he would have acted swiftly to rescue kidnap victims if he was the Commander-in-Chief, describing government response to kidnap incidents as weak.

Obi stated that he would also have a thought-out process and show empathy to the families of the victims.