TheCable

Buba Marwa, former military administrator of Lagos state, says the victory of President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2019 presidential election is a “foregone conclusion”.

Marwa, who is a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), told The Sun that Buhari’s victory would be a huge landslide.

Marwa said other possible contenders against Buhari, including former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, Sule Lamido, former governor of Jigawa state and Ahmed Markafi, ex-chairman of the Peoples Democratic People (PDP), stand no chance against the president.

“The president’s victory in 2019 will be a huge landslide. In 2015, he beat a sitting president. In 2019, tell me, who will he be facing?” Marwa asked.

“His victory is a foregone conclusion. Other parties should be strategising towards 2023 because 2019 would be a no contest.

“That is the reality. We are praying for his good health.”

Marwa said the reception Buhari received when he visited Kano state depicts “the president’s popularity and acceptability by the electorate”.

During the visit, Buhari had said the massive reception that greeted his arrival “is a message to the opposition” that his popularity in the region remains unshaken.

Comparing the votes in four south-east states to that of Kano, Marwa expressed confidence that Buhari would trounce his opponents.

“Look at the performance, look at the votes that came out of Kano and what is possible and compare Kano votes, for instance, to the south-east votes,” Marwa said.

“By the time you remove Imo state that is APC, total the votes for the rest of the states in the southeast and Kano. That is one.

“Then, look at the votes of the northwest; the entire northwest votes, actually, are more than south-south and south-east.

“Obviously, an unpopular candidate from the North can be beaten. But when you have somebody like President Buhari taking full advantage of the North West, add that to the North East, it is almost double of the votes from the south-south and the south-east.

“In essence, the total registered voters of south-south and south-west combined is equivalent to north-west alone – each with about 17.6m voters. Assuming those cancel out in 2019, compare to 2015 results, the south-west, an APC zone, breaks the equilibrium with nearly 14 million voters.

“Then comes the north-east zone, with 9 million voters and four APC governors out of six . And we still have North Central also with 9 million voters and all six APC governors.”