Idahosa, who said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Benin on Friday, added that the 2015 victory was a hard-fought one for the APC.
He said the 2015 presidential election was particularly a difficult one because, aside from being an opposition party, religion and ethnic sentiments played a major part in the campaign.
“The election of 2015 was based on religion and it was between the North and the South. A lot of us were emotional that Buhari was a northern Muslim. You see Churches carrying propaganda that Buhari will Islamise the country.
“But this election will probably be between two northern Muslims. Our pastors will get no contract of sharing money inside their Churches and the voting system will be different.
“In 2015, we lost almost everything in Edo South. It was difficult to convince people to vote for Buhari in this state. 2019 will be a different scenario. Anybody making permutations based on 2015 will be making a very big mistake.
“Buhari has a cult followership in the north. His 12 million votes are waiting for him intact. He will get the bulk vote but it will not be the same for the PDP in the South and South East,” he said.
Idahosa further stressed that since President Buhari had worked very hard, it would also largely contribute to make his re-election easy.
According to him, “Buhari’s presidency has been very eventful for the development of this country. He has by no small means, improved on the infrastructure development of the country.
” The rail is not only receiving priority attention; roads, agriculture and many other sectors have seen more support in this government than in any other in the history of the country.”
