While divergent reactions, knocks and kudos, have trailed President Muhammadu Buhari’s announcement of his 2019 re-election bid in 2019, there are factors that may favour his re-election bid.
His fight against insecurity, especially the ‘technical defeat’ of Boko Haram is one of such factors.
Three years into his presidency, many will argue that the president is winning the anti-insurgency war. Though the insurgency has not been completely defeated, the insurgents have been displaced and most of the territories they took over have been re-gained by the Nigerian army.
Also, the president has secured the release of some of the Chibok girls abducted by the Boko Haram and he promised that the remaining girls, and others in Boko Haram’s captivity, will regain their freedom soon.
Despite the controversies that surrounded the abduction and release of the Dapchi schoolgirls, many still commended the president’s prompt response and release of the girls.
In the fight against corruption, many are of the opinion that no previous administration has performed better than President Buhari.
Also, the anti-corruption crusade is yielding result as Nigeria recently rose 24 places on the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business rankings, and earned a place on the list of top 10 reformers in the world.
While the Buhari-led administration is still facing series of economic challenges, owing largely to the reduction in global oil price, the administration has continued to build the foreign reserves up to an unprecedented level.
While the previous administration allegedly left foreign reserves of $29. 6 in 2015, some argued it was not up to that, the Buhari-led administration has almost doubled the amount in less than three years.
The foreign reserves now reportedly stand at $46.554 billion.
Similarly, the economy is now being truly diversified as Agriculture is now reportedly the second biggest thing after oil.
His integrity which has remained untainted is another factor. Many Nigerians strongly believe that there is no Nigerian politician that has an ‘iota’ of integrity.
The integrity has earned him quite an impressive followership base which is the number one requirement needed to win an election in the present democratic system.
Nevertheless, just as President Buhari has so many factors that could make his re-election bid successful in 2019, there are equally some negative dynamics that could work against his re-election bid.
One of the factors that could negatively affect the president is the economic recession.
Right under President Buhari, Nigeria slipped into recession in August 2016. According to the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the second quarter of 2016 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) declined by -2.06%.
Nigerians were thrown into hardship during this period of recession as prices of commodities in the market skyrocketed.
Even though the NBS announced in September 2017 that Nigerian economy was out of recession, the people of Nigeria are yet to feel the difference between the period the country slipped into recession and when it emerged from recession.