Buhari will beat Atiku in Adamawa, Keyamo vows

The spokesperson of the president's re-election campaign believes his influence in the north will continue to bear fruits in 2019.

The spokesperson of the President Muhammadu Buhari Campaign Organisation, Festus Keyamo, is confident that the president will comfortably win the 2019 presidential election.

While speaking during an interview on Channels Television's Politics Today on Sunday, February 3, 2019, the lawyer outlined a breakdown of how the president will win re-election in the February 16 election.

According to him, the president's influence among northern voters is so overwhelming that he'll beat his biggest opponent, Atiku Abubakar, in his home state of Adamawa and win the northwest states by a wide margin.

He said, "Buhari will win the seven northwest states by a wide margin. We're talking about margins of more than a million because that has always been the traditional pattern.

"In the northeast, Buhari will win Yobe by 80-90%, he'll win Borno, Bauchi, Gombe at any time; and he'll win Adamawa.

"I want to tell you that one of the greatest gifts Buhari will have going into the election is that he'll beat Atiku Abubakar in Adamawa State."Keyamo further revealed that the southwest region will vote for the president because of his running mate, Yemi Osinbajo, who's from the region. However, he admitted that the president will not perform well in the south south and southeast regions who appear to be bent on voting for Atiku.

The spokesperson for Atiku's campaign, Buba Galadima, countered Keyamo's figures and projected that Atiku will beat Buhari in the northwest region by 60% to 40%, but with a possible draw in Buhari's home state of Katsina.He also expressed confidence that Atiku, a former vice president, will win in the northeast region, the Middle Belt, and throughout the south.

He said, "I want to say that in the northwest namely Kebbi, Zamfara, Sokoto, Kano, Jigawa and Kaduna, Atiku will defeat Buhari 60% to 40% on the minimum. The only place they may likely come in 50-50 will be Katsina.

"And definitely in the northeast, apart from Borno, I cannot see where Buhari will defeat Atiku.In the Middle Belt, from what has happened so far during the reign of President Buhari in the last three years, I think he'll lose.

"In the southwest, I want to say with certainty that Yoruba people are very respectable people and respect and follow the words of their elders. They know what's good for them, they are businessmen and smart people. All their businesses have been ruined by the planless government that we have today. They'll not vote on the basis of sentiment.

"For the south south and south east, we'll definitely return not less than 85% of the votes."

2019 presidential race

Even though the February 16 presidential election is expected to be keenly-contested between Atiku and Buhari, they both face competition from 70 other candidates including Donald Duke of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Kingsley Moghalu of the Young Progressive Party (YPP), Fela Durotoye of the Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN), and Omoyele Sowore of the African Action Congress (AAC).

Others are Tope Fasua of the Abundance Nigeria Renewal Party (ANRP), Eunice Atuejide of the National Interest Party (NIP), Adesina Fagbenro-Byron of the Kowa Party (KP), Chike Ukaegbu of the Advanced Allied Party (AAP), Hamza Al-Mustapha of the People's Party of Nigeria (PPN), Obadiah Mailafia of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim of Peoples Trust (PT) and many more.