Emir of Kano Muhammadu Sanusi speaks - Why Jonathan lost to Buhari

Emir of Kano and former CBN governor, Muhammadu Sanusi II says President Jonathan lost the Presidential election because many people were not happy with him and his PDP-led government. In an interview with Punch, the Emir said high level of poverty in the nation played a deciding factor in the voting pattern in this year's election. He said the PDP had in previous elections consistently lost in areas that President Obasanjo had majority of votes when he contested.

"I think in 2011, it was very clear that Jonathan had lost many states in the North that had previously been won by former President Olusegun Obasanjo. And it was clear that there was a general sense by people of the Federal Government not investing in the areas where there is a high level of poverty. I believe more and more of those states began to feel that sense of not feeling the federal presence and not feeling the impact of democracy in their pockets. And I think it is extremely important for people to connect with the government and when you have such conditions after 16 years of democracy, it was natural that people would want to have a change and I think this is basically what has happened. I don’t think it is something about an individual, I think it is something that has been going on for a number of years and you could see the states won by the PDP in 1999 and what they won in 2003, what they won in 2007, 2011 and you would begin to see the changes in the way Nigerians were responding so it was a matter of time.”he said