Political pundits have tipped General Muhammadu Buhari, presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), to defeat President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in today’s s poll.
The pundits, all seasoned journalists, made their prediction after two sessions of deliberations at a presidential election roundtable organised by Newsbreak.ng, a broad-spectrum online news medium, to examine issues around the presidential election. They, however, submitted that it will be a closely contested race.
This is hinged on their conviction that the six-week shift in date has allowed President Jonathan’s campaign to regain a bit of momentum it lost through the success of the counter-insurgency offensive in the North-East.
Among those in attendance at the sessions were Ikechukwu Amaechi, a former member of the judges’ panel of CNN/MultiChoice African Journalists of the Year Award and Editor-in-Chief of The Niche; Adekanmi Ademiluyi, Editorial Board Chairman of The Niche, Mojeed Jamiu, former Director-General, Ekiti State Broadcasting Service; and Wale Fatade, a columnist with thecable.ng.
Others were Julius Eto, Deputy Editor of The Guardian; Ayodele Aminu, Business Editor of The New Telegraph; Ayo Oyoze Baje, columnist and former Editorial Page Editor of Daily Times; Habib Aruna, immediate past editor of Independent on Sunday; Bamidele Johnson, former Associate Editor, TheNEWS, and Jenkins Alumona, marketing communication expert and former editor of TheNEWS.
At both sessions, participants examined a variety of issues around the election, notably the direction the pendulum of victory would swing, readiness of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), neutrality of the security agencies, quality of public discourse and quality of campaigns of the two major candidates.
Others were where the election would be won or lost, zones with the potential for combustion and the role of the media in shaping debates around the election.
Buhari is tipped to win overwhelmingly in Kwara, Kebbi, Zamfara, Niger, Kaduna, Katsina, Sokoto, Kano, Jigawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Yobe and Borno, while Adamawa is 50-50.
The panel, however, added that Jonathan will score between 15 and 20% of votes cast in Jigawa, Kebbi, Katsina, Kaduna Bauchi and Gombe states. He is, however, tipped to sweep Taraba, Plateau, Benue, and Nasarawa (65 to 35%) because of the huge Christian population in those states. Buhari, the analysts reckon, will post a decent showing in Taraba and Nasarawa.
Jonathan is tipped to win overwhelmingly in the South-East and South-South zones, which have fewer eligible voters than the North-West and North-East, where Buhari is a cult figure.
No comments:
Post a Comment