"Tinubu Has Over 40% Chances of Contesting Third Term": Analyst Explains

• An analyst has predicted that President Bola Tinubu has the opportunity to change the constitution and contest for a third term in office
• Eniola Daniel, a political commentator, in an exclusive interview with Legit.ng, noted that Tinubu can achieve this as long as Godswill Akpabio and Tajudeen Abbas remain leaders of the National Assembly
• According to Daniel, Tinubu also has a 50 per cent chance of retaining power in the 2027 election

President Bola Tinubu has over 50 per cent chances of returning to power in the 2027 general election, Eniola Daniel, a political commentator, predicted

In an exclusive interview with Legit.ng, Daniel noted that the president also had over 40 per cent chances of changing the constitution to contest for a third term in office.

He added that this would be possible as long as Senate President Godswill Akpabio and Speaker Tajudeen Abbas remained the leaders of the National Assembly.

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How many times can Nigeria's president be sworn in?

Presently, Nigeria's constitution does not allow the president or governor to contest for the office more than twice, two 4-year terms. President Tinubu first contested for the office of the number one citizen in the country in 2023 and would only be allowed to hold the office for another four years after 2027, except the constitution is amended to accommodate a third term.

While predicting the chances of the president in the next election, Daniel noted that poverty and poor education were major factors why Tinubu may still gather more votes in the northern part of Nigeria. According to Daniel, religious sentiment was another factor. He said:

"Tinubu has over 50 per cent chance of returning in 2027 as Nigerian President and equally has over 40 per cent of even changing the constitution to go for a third term, as long as Godswill Akpabio remains the Senate President, Tajudeen Abass as the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

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"Tinubu had enviable numbers from the north in the 2023 Presidential election, and he might have the same numbers in 2027 because it’s easier to pacify the north than any other region. Northerners listen to their leaders than people in the south, where snatching of ballot boxes is mostly carried out by candidates."

Why the north will vote for Tinubu

Daniel further alleged that the north will vote for Tinubu because of the poor education system in the region.

He said:

"Average northerners do not care much about education, and Bola Tinubu understands this so well that he will rather feed them than help them get an education. This is not his doing, but how the north has been structured by their elites.

"One thing that worked for Tinubu in 2023 that the majority of the candidates failed to realise is that he tapped into the religious sentiment of the north by building mosques and convincing northern clerics to preach about him as a better Muslim than Atiku Abubakar, and the same tactics will work for him in 2027.

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"The voting population in the north will jump at candidates sharing food rather than those preaching development, production and education,n and Tinubu is smart enough to understand this. Tinubu is smart enough to deploy his son, Seyi Tinubu, earlier to hand over packs of cooked food to Northerners; this is the effect of indoctrination."

Presidency announces Tinubu's travel plan

Legit.ng earlier reported that the presidency disclosed that President Bola Tinubu will be travelling out of Nigeria to France on Wednesday, April 2.

According to a statement by the president's spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, Tinubu will be in Paris on a two-week working visit.

President Tinubu is expected to review the achievements of his administration in the last two years, ahead of his anniversary, during his stay in France.

Proofreading by Nkem Ikeke, copy editor at Legit.ng.

Source: Legit.ng