Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of Kano state has said that he had no doubt that President Muhammadu Buhari would secure five million votes in Kano in the 2019 general elections. Speaking to news men at a parley at the Government House yesterday, as part of activities marking his third year in office, Ganduje said “going by accurate statistical data, Buhari is likely to have a favourable edge over his rivals in the coming race for the presidency.” According to the governor, his marvellous score-card is an empirical evidence for one to make such a prediction.
Ganduje said: “Buhari can be said to be an exceptional political figure whose rise to stardom in the political lexicon of the nation, saw seen him through turbulent political waters, contesting four times in the race for the presidency, up till the time he achieved his aims and objectives.
“In Kano, for example, Buhari had already secured majority of the votes cast during the presidential election, at the time his party was not strong enough to defeat the incumbent ruling party in power positing that he was able to clinch Kano in spite of such disadvantage.” He said even with the Kwankwasiyya faction of the All Progressives Congress (APC) threatening fi re and brim stone in the name of defecting from the party to another party, people like him would never be cowed into submission knowing that it was an empty threat that would “not hold any water in the face of the surging popularity of the president in Kano.” He said: “I can’t imagine how he would not secure two million votes in Kano.
Take the issue of security; the president has done so much in the area of injecting confi dence into the minds of Nigerians for them to feel secure. We are not afraid of anything; he is going to make it, God-willing “For me, I am also optimistic that we are going to win the gubernatorial election for the second time. People would really cast their votes in line with their individual’s conscience and would not be deceived by the dirty tricks of our opponents.” He said relying on dirty tricks and endless rhetoric “is superfluous considering the fact that his administration would only be judged by its stellar performance and what it did to make Kano a role model of excellence He stressed that with the level of awareness created the electorate would never be stampeded into making a wrong choice.
