(1) First of all, I think this trio should have boycotted the debate the moment they found that Omoyele Sowore was not on the panel. By all accounts, he is running third in every opinion poll and excluding him was tantamount to rigging

(2) NEDG/BON are a symptom of what is wrong with Nigeria. Oga at the top picks faces he likes and that is it. Surely, the five speakers should have been picked on the basis of transparent opinion polls and not behind the scenes shenanigans whereby the powers-that-be decide things

(3) As per President Buhari, his handlers clearly told him not to participate in the debate because he would get taken to the cleaners if he did. You have to ask yourself how he agreed to stand for office when he knew he was not up to the rigours of the job. Buhari dropped the ball big time by agreeing to run for a second term

(4) However you look at this, it all goes back to the agreement Bola Tinubu and Muhammadu Buhari had when they merged the ACN and CPC to form the APC. Their agreement needed a clause that Buhari should only serve one term. Total negligence on the part of everyone concerned. Intellectually and mentally, President Buhari is just going to deteriorate over the next four years

(5) Nelson Mandela only served one term as president of South Africa, knowing that age was not on his side. President Buhari should have taken a cue from that. His best days are way behind him. Anyone who is expecting much from him over the next four years is either dishonest, naive or just plain dumb

(6) As Nigeria stands today, the PDP and APC enjoy a sense of entitlement. They arrogantly believe Nigerians have no option but them. Good or bad, they think their candidates are the only choices we have. Our people have empowered them to do this by accepting their stomach infrastructure handouts

(7) Have you not noticed that both at state and federal levels, the best candidates are neither in the PDP or APC? Check out say Babatunde O. Gbadamosi in Lagos State or Omoyele Sowore and Kingsley Moghalu. They have had to come up with masterplans, which the two main parties are not obliged to. The APC and PDP do not think they need to sell any policies

(8) Ideally, what we need are new election guidelines that compel NEDG/BON to conduct opinion polls six months to the election and publish the results online. The top five candidates must be compelled to appear in a debate. Anyone who does not should automatically be disqualified from standing

(9) If we had those guidelines in place Atiku Abubakar would not be able to walk out of a debate as he did yesterday

(10) Given that Buhari and Atiku are still the two front runners, Nigerians should boycott the elections unless the two of them participate in a head on debate. This is the time for the electorate to stand up and be counted. People who want to rule us should not treat us with such contempt!