The Nigeria Elections Debate Group (NEDG) has reacted to criticisms that have trailed the selection of political parties expected to participate in its forthcoming presidential and vice-presidential debates.

Executive Secretary of the NEDG, Eddie Emesiri, who explained the criteria in a statement on Thursday said that the parties for the debate were picked through an independently administered multi-stage process, which started with an independent online poll before it distributed survey questionnaires per state, to professionals, artisans, students, etc; respondents were within the voting age and spread across urban, semi-urban and rural classifications.

Noting that the the third stage of selection was to take an aggregate of the stage result and extend invitations to the top 5 parties for the debate, he stressed that the decision to select five parties was taken at the beginning of the process to ensure that the debates were managed effectively.

“Considering the vast number of contending parties, the decision to limit to five parties was taken at the beginning of our process to ensure ease of management for the debates.”

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Speaking further, Emeiri stressed that the stages of the selection process focused on political parties while the organisers considered the importance of diversity in the nation, insisting that no preference was given to any candidate or party and nobody influenced the organisers to include or exclude any political party from the debates.

“All the stages of the selection process were focused on political parties, taking into consideration the importance of national spread and diversity. Focus was not on specific individuals or candidates.

“We wish to emphatically state that the NEDG and BON were not influenced or induced by anyone to include or exclude any political party from the debate. We understand the disappointment of some political parties who would have wished to see their candidates share their visions for the country at the Debates,” the statement read.

Related: Sowore protests exclusion from Presidential debate

Reiterating its transparency and independence of the selection process that resulted in the five participating political parties, the group urged those who have reservations about the process to to respect their choice as it abides by the outcome of the independent party selection process.

“Nigerians have spoken through the multi-stage process.”

The Vice-Presidential Debate and the Presidential Debate are scheduled for Friday, December 14, 2018, and Saturday, January 19, 2019, respectively.