The New Nigeria Peoples Party has called on APC presidential candidate Bola Tinubu to engage Nigerians through media debates and town hall meetings organised by some relevant institutions in the country.

NNPP national chairman Rufai Alkali stated this on Monday at a news conference in Abuja.

Mr Alkali said if a presidential candidate engaged with Nigerians through town hall meetings and media debates, such action would add value to his campaign or victory.

According to him, if the candidate avoids Nigerians at media debates and town hall meetings, he will meet them at polling units.

Mr Alkali recalled that Mr Tinubu did not honour the invitation to the conferences organised by the Nigerian Bar Association and Lagos Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

“APC presidential candidate Bola Tinubu did not attend the Arise TV debate and town H]hall meeting by the National Peace Accord. The only engagement Tinubu had attended with Nigerians was the meetings by the Arewa Consultative Forum and the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN),” stated the NNPP chairman.

He said NNPP and its presidential candidate Rabiu Kwankwaso had devised a new strategy to engage Nigerians to achieve victory during the 2023 general elections.

“We have adopted a new strategy to engage people so that they will now have the feeling that the party respects them, cares for them, and understands their needs. So, by the time we ask for votes, they say, ‘ah, we have seen you before’,” he said.

Mr Alkali described the Northern Leaders Consultative Forum (NLCF) as opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members.

He said that was why the forum adopted PDP presidential standard-bearer Atiku Abubakar as the consensus candidate for the North.

“As far as NNPP is concerned, the Northern Leaders Consultative Forum (NLCF) is unknown to us. And there was never a time we had any interface with the group,” he said. 

(NAN)