APC Chieftain Says Debates Will Not Win Election, Predicts Buhari’s Victory

The immediate past Commissioner for Works in Lagos State, Ganiyu Johnson (GAJ), said debates would not determine who would win the 2019 presidential elections in Nigeria.

During an interactive session with newsmen in Lagos on Sunday, December 16, 2018, Johnson said that that though, debates might have counted in other climes, in Nigeria majority of voters do not watch such debates, but vote based on benefits from governance.

He was, however, optimistic that that President Muhammadu Buhari would have a landslides victory at the polls. He said:

“Debates are good for the enlightened, but you cannot use it to judge.

“Most of the viewers are not voters. You can make statistical judgment from it, but it doesn’t affect results or show voting patterns.

“How many market women or ordinary Nigerians tuned in for the debate?

“The elites who did are the ones crediting or discrediting the contestants based on their affiliations and these group of Nigerians hardly vote. Their criticisms and choices end on the internet.

“This is not to say that such debates are bad as it gives an idea of the performances of the present administration and an opportunity for the opposition parties to tell Nigerians who watch and the International community what they could have done differently.

“In this case, it was obvious that there is no alternative to the present administration, having watched the debate and realising that no other party has better plans than the APC.”

Johnson said that the achievements of the Buhari-led administration were being felt by Nigerians across the country and the administration has scored over 80 percent in performance in less than four years.

“It is the elites that are exaggerating what is not. If you benchmark us today, you will see that our performance is so high in spite of the fact that we met the problems we are tackling.

“We met 16 years of rot, and we have tried to contain them and move the country forward. APC will take Nigeria, not only to the next level, but the desired level.”