Buhari Will Win 2019 Presidential Election, Says Jibrin

The lawmaker representing Bebeji/Kiru constituency in the House of Representatives, Dr Abdulmumin Jibrin, believes President Muhammadu Buhari will be re-elected in 2019.

Jibrin, who was a guest on Channels Television’s Roadmap 2019, was confident that the defection of some leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would not stop the President from winning the poll.

“President Muhammadu Buhari will win the 2019 presidential election,” he said in the interview which aired on Monday. “Everybody in politics has his own value.”

He added, “I don’t want to particularly say they (the defectors) do not have value, but the point that I’ve made consistently is that whatever value they carry, whatever value they have, whether political value or electoral value, it’s not going to affect the chances of Mr President and the chances of APC in the next coming election.”

Although the former House Committee Chairman on Appropriation, however, admitted that the election would be a tough one.

He noted that a tight poll was the best for the nation’s democracy, as a slight victory would make the opposition strong, increase the value of every member of the society, as well as make the ruling party not to be too relaxed.

Dr Abdulmumin Jibrin speaks during an interview on Channels Television’s Roadmap 2019

Dr Jibrin also highlighted some of the things he considered before he got convinced that the President would win his re-election bid.

He categorised them into two namely the aspect of political consideration and that of governance which he said included the achievements of the President the areas of security, economy, and anti-corruption war.

The lawmaker said, “One of the major key selling points of Buhari is that he naturally appeals to the masses, to people in the grassroots. You need to see how the people at the grassroots love Buhari; it is an unconditional love.

“It will scare you. it is an unconditional love over their conviction that Buhari is a man of integrity. Buhari has not been dented, no stain on his body and that is counting for him.”

The former House Committee Chairman on Appropriation believed the younger generation had realised that the re-election of President Buhari was the easiest path to a generational shift in the country.

According to him, Nigerians in their late 20s and mid-30s will be the ones in the Senate and House of Representatives in the next few years.

On the performance of the government so far, Jibrin said, “President Buhari and the APC government have done excellently well if you ask me, indeed, in these three key areas – security, economy and anti-corruption.”