TheCable

Tanko Yakassai, an elder statesman, says no presidential candidate will have 70 percent of northern votes.

Yakassai said northern votes might be equally shared among the four major presidential candidates.

Speaking in an interview with Punch, the elder statesman said nothing will stop Bola Tinubu, presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), from winning the election, if it is free and fair.

“My belief is that if the election is conducted freely and fairly, nothing will stop (Asiwaju Bola Ahmed) Tinubu, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, from winning the election,” he said.

“But I see some bigwigs expressing disapproval of his ambition. Some of them are within the APC and some are in opposition parties.

“My belief is that such people, if they find it difficult to win the election, may resort to malpractices, which may include rigging.

“I don’t see any candidate taking maybe 70 percent of the total northern votes in this election.

“I know many of the votes will be shared and at worst equally between the candidates.

“The candidates coming from the north, in my opinion, are rarely going to be on the ballot.

“They will split the vote in the north and chances are that the chunk of votes Tinubu will get from the voters in the north will be higher than those of the other strong three candidates.

“The three people being mentioned are very strong contenders. The possibility is that the votes in the north will be split into so many places.

“If that happens, the likelihood is that the chunk of votes will go to Tinubu compared to any one of them. He is likely to get more votes than any of them.”

Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP), Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) and Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are among the leading contenders in the presidential race.