The Senior Special Assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan on Public Affairs, Doyin Okupe has taken a swipe at the presidential candidate of the All Progressive Party, APC, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari and his party for boycotting the presidential debate organised by the Nigeria Election Debate Group (NEDG).

Okupe said APC boycotted the debate to save Buhari from shame, as he does not have record of performance, education and eloquency needed for a debate to match President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

He made this known on his twitter page. “If APC didn’t withdraw from the debate they would have been stupid. Their candidate has no record of performance. Neither is he educated nor eloquent”.

Meanwhile the Special Assistant to President Jonathan on New Media, Reno Omokri, has urged Buhari to participate in the debate, by starting a hashtag #Buharimustdebate, which has generated over 100 retweets.

The All Progressives Congress (APC), Thursday, says it will not participate in the ongoing public debates on national television and radio stations organised by the Nigeria Election Debate Group (NEDG). It alleged that the Nigeria Election Debate Group (NEDG), co-ordinating the debate, was fraught with fundamental errors from the outset, according to a statement signed by Malam Garba Shehu, the Director Media and Publicity of the APC Campaign Organisation.

The statement said it decision to boycot the debates ”is because of the unhidden bias and campaign of calumny by some key organisers of the programme against the corporate political interest of the party and its candidates”.