The deputy spokesperson of the Tinubu presidential campaign council, Hannatu Musawa, has said the 2023 presidential election is a two horse race between the governing All Progressives Congress and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
According to her, it is constitutionally impossible for the Labour Party (LP) to win because of spread.
Hannatu noted that the race is mainly for Tinubu to win, adding that the PDP presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar will come a distant second.
Speaking with LEADERSHIP in Abuja yesterday, Hannatu said it is clear that Tinubu would win the 2023 presidential election because of the spread of the APC and his plans for Nigerians which he has presented as a document.
She stared: “Tinubu will win the 2023 presidential election because it is a two horse race. Atiku will come a distant second because the Labour Party doesn’t have the constitutional spread to win. The Labour Party and others that are contesting in the election are just there to benefit the system.
“It is a two-horse race. The votes are about Tinubu and Atiku. The closest to Tinubu is the PDP. NNPP, Labour and others have their base but none of them have the kind of structure that is required. APC has the structure and Tinubu will win. Peter Obi’s momentum is an advantage for the APC because he is only taking the PDP votes,” she stated.
Hannatu said the APC campaign team will use the remaining four months to the election to convince and educate the people on Tinubu’s action plans, urging Nigerians to interrogate the candidates not only on their action plans but their past records.
“I think the chances of our presidential candidate Bola Ahmed Tinubu is second to none, he is clearly the front-runner. There’s no doubt about it. I think at this point it is not so much about whether he will win, it is how much of a gap he’s going to win. I think with all that is unraveling at the moment, it is becoming clearer, because I see Bola Ahmed Tinubu coasting into victory in this election even though we still have a long way to go.
“I think there are strong contenders in the different political parties but this particular election cycle is actually a benefit to the system itself and not to affect the chances of the APC.
“This is a two-horse race. I’m not one of those who are of the opinion that the votes are going to be divided, ” she said.
Insisting that the closest contender to even have a chance to win the 2023 election is PDP, adding that NNPP and it’s candidate, Rabiu Musa Kwankwanso, are still hoping to have their base.
“Yes, the Labour Party have their base but I think neither of them have the sort of political leverage or the platform or the structure. You know, we keep on talking about structure, but I think none of them have the kind of structure that is required to be able to really make a difference in terms of who’s going to win the election because of the sort of constitutional requirements that we have in the Constitution.
“Part of the requirement is that a person has to win not less than one quarter of the votes in two thirds of the country, right? That is 24 different states. So, in order for you to be able to win, you have to go beyond your base.
“For example, if your base is the Northwest toward the southeast or Southwest, you have to be able to transcend beyond that and neither the Labour party or the NNPP who are probably the closest contenders after PDP have the ability, or the capacity to be able to reach the sort of constitutional requirements.
“So, can I say that PDP is the closest contender. For the Labour party, it is constitutionally impossible for the party to win.
On whether five governors of the APC would be joining the PDP, Hannatu said it is just wishful thinking.
“I think that’s a little bit of what we call wishful thoughts. There’s no governor at this point that will want to leave the APC. There’s no reason for any governor to move over to PDP because all the governors are very much accommodated within the structure of the APC and at the same time, like I said, the trajectory is looking more as if APC is going to win. So, I think it may even be a little bit of a political suicide for any governor to do that.
“I don’t think there’s any governor that would want to leave. I go to a lot of the rallies, town hall meetings and engagements and I see all the governors being intact. And I think it is a tactic that the APC probably is trying to use in order to counter the fact that the PDP has G-5 governors within their own party that have even come out to express themselves that they’re not going to support the PDP,” Hannatu added.
