Presidential Elections: I Will Surely Win, Jonathan Tells BBC

President Goodluck Jonathan has boasted that he will “surely” defeat the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), General Muhammadu Buhari and other presidential candidates in the March 28 presidential elections.

Speaking in an interview with the BBC, President Jonathan in response to a question said categorically: “I’ll surely win.”

The March 28 presidential elections is tipped to go down the wire with the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd) expected to give a tough fight against the incumbent.

The March 28 presidential elections would be General Buhari’s 4th attempt and he is believed in some quarters to be the leading candidate at the moment.

Some analysts and even the opposition are of the opinion that the postponement of the election from the original February 14 date is attributed to the fear of losing by Jonathan, but the president told the BBC he is confident of winning the election.

He also spoke on the Boko Haram insurgents, admitting for the first time that they were initially underrated by the government.

But now he said they are getting weaker and all territories under their control would be retaken within a month. “They are getting weaker and weaker by the day,” he said. “I’m very hopeful that it will not take us more than a month to recover the old territories that hitherto have been in their [Boko Haram’s] hands.”

While admitting that the authorities had “under-estimated” the militants, he also reiterated that the military lacked the resources to fight them until now.

Jonathan said that newly acquired military equipment, as well as co-operation with neighbouring countries, had helped push the insurgents out.