As political parties and their respective Presidential candidates vie to lead Nigeria’s next administration by winning the 2023 Election, ‘The Candidates’ presidential town hall series, an original Daria Media concept, supported by the MacArthur Foundation, NTA and YouTube, launches on the 17th of November, 2022 and will be live on NTA, FRCN, Radio Now, DSTV, Youtube, Facebook and more.

The Candidates, is a two-hour live televised town hall meeting series, of the Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates of the six leading political parties. These parties were selected using a combination of editorial judgement, aggregated polls by the Centre for Democracy and Development, CDD, occupation of elective offices and presence across the country.

Kole Shettima, the Africa Director of the MacArthur Foundation says, “The foundation is privileged to support an opportunity for Nigerians to interact with the leading Presidential candidates in the 2023 general elections.”

The Candidates’ Presidential town hall will take place as follows:

Prince Adewole Adebayo and running mate, Alh. Yusuf Buhari, of the Social Democratic Party – 17th November, 2022

Mr. Omoyele Stephen Sowore and running mate, Barrister Haruna Garba Magashi, of the African Action Congress Party –18th November, 2022

Sen. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso and running mate, Bishop Isaac Idahosa, of the New Nigeria Peoples Party -19th November, 2022

Mr. Peter Obi (CON) and running mate, Dr. Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, of the Labour Party – 21st November 2022

Alh. Atiku Abubakar and running mate, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa of the People’s Democratic Party – 22nd November, 2022

Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and running mate, Sen. Shettima Kashim of the All Progressives Congress Party – 23rd November 2022

Kadaria Ahmed, a leading Nigerian broadcaster and journalist, will moderate each town hall. She has been moderating Presidential Debates and town halls since the 2011 elections. ‘The Candidates’ this year is produced by Obi Asika, Ceo Cabal Ent who has produced several major live events, festivals, tv shows, reality formats and has been at the forefront of media production for decades. He and his team will seek to bring that quality to The Candidates.

Obi Asika, CEO of Cabal Entertainment and Executive Producer of The Candidates says, “ I am hugely excited to be working with Kadaria Ahmed, one of Nigeria’s most distinguished journalists and broadcasters with a long and impressive track record in print, tv and radio. We hope to deliver a town hall series that will make all Nigerians proud regardless of which candidate they support and we want to enable the best possible platform for all the leading candidates to come and share their best plans for Nigeria with Nigerians.”

The Candidates will be a live streaming and live broadcast production, providing a unique platform for direct interaction between the Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates of the leading political parties in Nigeria and her citizens. In the Candidates Presidential Townhall series we are delivering six presidential townhalls and 7 pundit shows with leading national commentators hosting these conversations before each town hall. Each edition of the series also has 6 remote locations in Nigerian universities with live interactive audiences in Maiduguri, Enugu, Ibadan, Port Harcourt, Kano & Abuja who will be part of the live townhall series.

There will be an audience of 100 people for each town hall, including CSOs and the Diplomatic Corps, It will be an opportunity for Nigerians to hear directly from the aspirants and to ask them questions on governance and nation building. The Candidates has partnered with Zikoko Citizen to distill the conversation for the young, social media engaged audience, and with Africa Fact Check to ensure accuracy and accountability.

The Candidates will be broadcast across Nigeria on all platforms: live on NTA, and over 30 FRCN radio stations, other partner TV stations, as well as streamed online on YouTube and social media platforms to enable Nigerians in the diaspora to participate