The former Deputy Governor of Nigeria’s Central Bank and former Presidential candidate of the Young Progressive Party, Prof. Kingsley Moghalu. lawyer and political economist, has reacted to the American presidential debate between President Donald Trump and his opponent Joe Biden. Speaking during ‘The Arise Interview’, a live programme, Prof. Moghalu said that while he expected a strong debate, he did not expect the “debacle that took place”.
Since the American presidential debate between Trump and Biden, many commentators have expressed shock that political intolerance usually seen as a Third world problem, can be so boldly on display in America, worst still, during a presidential debate where the candidates are expected to be nothing less than presidential. “It was an embarrassment to the United States which holds itself out to the world, as a beacon of democracy and so I was very disappointed with the tone of the debate and I felt sorry that the moderator could not control it”, Prof. Moghalu said.
There are suspicion and accusation that President Trump may have intentionally hurled attacks on Biden in an attempt to get him loose focus. Considering Trump’s style, this suspicion is not out of place. During the last presidential election in the US, it could be recalled that Mitchell Obama once said in a campaign that “when they low, we go high”, referring to the Trump campaign and the diversionary tactics and name-calling they readily deploy on opponents. And so for Prof. Moghalu, “President Trump came to the debate with a strategy or a tactics that is not surprising, he actually has used it previously several times, frequently interrupting his opponent, trying to talk over him, but it was just excessive and even many Republicans admitted that”. The implication of this is that such tactics have consequences. In this particular instance, “That made Mr. Biden to feel that he shouldn’t look too weak and of course he hurled an insult or two at the President of the United States and in one very memorable instance calling him, quote, unquote a clown, what am I to say when the President of the United States is being addressed as a clown”.
What does this development then portend for the American democracy and democracy in general? For Moghalu, this goes to show that “American democracy in this election cycle has really come down very low, but this is also partly because of choices that the American people themselves have made, it wasn’t forced on them”. Compared to the Nigerian presidential debate which Prof. Moghalu participated in 2019, Moghalu noted that while the debate was civil, it was difficult reconciling how the two candidates who opted out of the debate got the highest number of votes in that election. “They chose not to participate in the debate and yet got rewarded with most of the votes in the election. So I think this speaks to how disempowered Nigerians are in their democracy; that candidates who are seeking their votes opt-out of presenting their records and their vision and yet they go and vote for some of those people. It shows how the people regard themselves and I think that was quiet interesting”.
Looking at the lessons his participation in the 2019 Nigeria Presidential debate and the events in the 2020 American presidential debate teach on democracy as a system of government, as well as what should guide the choices of voters in a democracy; Moghalu observed that actually, presidential debates do have impact to the extent of influencing votes. “Many people who voted for me said specifically that they were swayed by what they consider their assessment of my performance in the debate and that was very encouraging because it kind of began to set a new standard which I hope future elections will uphold”. Prof. Moghalu further observed that the democratic system is not automated where just anybody can fit in and do the job. In his words, “democracy is only as good as those who are participating in it and the institutions are only as good as those who run it”
He is a Technical Assistant to Governor Willie Obiano’s Special Adviser on Legislative Matters, whoonce was a Special Adviser to a former Deputy Speaker of Anambra State House of Assembly. Ebuka is a second class upper division graduate of Political Science from University of Calabar, Calabar Nigeria and holds a Masters Degree in Political Science with specialization in Government and Development Studies, from Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka Nigeria
