Naija News Poll: Nigerians Think Buhari May Not Win 2019 Presidential Election As A Result Of Recent Defections From APC

Nigerians Express Opinions Over Buhari’s Chances Of Winning Given The Recent Defections Of Lawmakers.

Tuesday, 24th of July witnessed an up rise and harvest of defections of lawmakers from the All progressive Congress to the Peoples Democratic Party hence Naija News (https://www.naijanews.com) conducted its poll, titled “Considering the recent move of Lawmakers from APC To PDP, Will Buhari Win in 2019.

Recall Senators from the APC who moved to the PDP included Sen. Shaaba Lafiaaji, Sen. Barnabas Gemade, Sen. Dino Melaye. Sen. Ubali Shittu, Sen. Rafiu Ibrahim, Sen. Isa Misau, Sen. Suleiman Hunkuyi, Sen. Abdullahi Danbaba, Sen. Bayero Nafada, Sen. Suleiman Nazif, Sen. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, Sen. Abdul-Aziz Nyako.

The poll which opened on Tuesday, 24th July,2018 and ended on Monday 12th August, 2018 produced mixed opinions of 5,914 people.

In line with the provision of the polls, the respondents voted Yes, No or Not Sure respectively, to the question , “Considering the recent move of Lawmakers from APC To PDP, Will Buhari Win in 2019?

While 43% voted a “Yes”, meaning Buhari’s chance of winning is close to average, 50% voted a “No” implying that President Buhari may have lost his chance of winning to the mass defections and only 7% expressed indifference; representing the group of respondents who expect surprises in the 2019 general elections.

By this, it has been observed that average Nigerians have faith in the few personalities that have defected from the ruling APC to the main opposition PDP, hence their leave from the APC to the other may affect negatively, the performance of President Buhari at the polls.

Withing the above duration, APC also witnessed the ‘sad’ defection of Samuel Ortom, Benue Governor on July 25 whom people seem to love and Senate president Bukola Saraki took his leave to the PDP on July 31st drawing some others after him.

Still in the period in which the polls were conducted, a former Governor of Akwa Ibom state, Akpabio Godswill finally made his move to the All Progressive Congress and at the mega rally held in Ikot Ekpene, to celebrate this move, APC leaders had said the defection of Akpabio had “swallowed” the mass defections from the APC.

This may have brought the rate of respondents in agreement that Buhari still has a chance of winning to move up to 43%.

However the 50% who disagreed seem to fault Okorocha’s statement, maintaing that Buhari would loose 2019 to the mass defection of lawmakers from his party. They seem to say that the defectors have left Buhari ‘naked’. They seem to say “if we Nigerians Say No and lawmakers say NO to Buhari 2019, he has lost”

Also, the polls Naija News conducted was online, meaning that the respondents were to a large extent, free to express their valid opinion, not under the influence of any vote buyer, opinion leader or the likes.

In addition if there is no such thing as vote buying, hypnotizing and common veils of Nigerian elections, this polls show that President Buhari’s chances of winning in 2019 is half decided; if these number of people translate their opinion to vote for or against Buhari, they may be able to convince others in their constituency to do the same.

As at the time the poll was conducted, the 2019 general election in the country is just about six months away

The graphics below show the result of the polls: