A group of young Nigerian politicians under the 2019 Campaign Platform called Atiku for President (AFP) has welcomed the outcome of recent online polls in which former Vice President Atiku Abubakar “trounced President Muhammadu Buhari convincingly.”

The AFP, in a statement issued on Monday in Jos by its Director-General, Emmanuel Uchele Oguche, said “the outcome of the poll proved that the advocacy of the group and other Nigerians for an Atiku presidency is sinking in the consciousness of young people who have now decided to make that historic change in 2019.”

In one of the polls conducted by Mark Essien, a prominent pro-Buhari social media influencer via @markessien handle, Atiku polled 43 percent as against Buhari’s 35 percent. Respondents were asked a straightforward question: “Who would you vote for in 2019 Presidential Election?”

An overwhelming majority of the 9,067 respondents voted for Atiku, giving him an 8% edge over President Buhari as at the close of voting on Wednesday morning.

In another poll conducted by YNaija online in which respondents were asked who will they vote for today, 70 percent of the voters also chose Atiku as their next president while only 19 percent chose President Buhari.

The same platform asked another question that 'who will you vote for in 2019?'. 50 percent of the respondents chose Atiku while 35 percent picked President Buhari.

The results, according to the group, “reflect the latest NOI/Gallup poll showing Buhari’s support had dropped significantly and his scorecard in critical sectors of economy (16%), job creation (15%) and poverty alleviation (12%) was adjudged abysmal.”

AFP noted that the result came to it as no surprise “as Nigerians, young and old, at home and in the Diaspora have repeatedly said the present administration is a huge and monumental failure which must be replaced in 2019 by all legitimate means possible.”

Basking in the euphoria of the results of the polls, AFP called on Nigerians “to sustain the momentum and get on the back of Atiku who alone has the capacity, clarity of mind, experience and large heart to salvage the nation come 2019.”

The statement read in part: “The poll results are a sign of things to come between now and 2019 because a majority of Nigerian youths seem to agree with us that the Waziri Adamawa represents every good thing lacking in the present administration.

“It is our well-considered opinion that the present political leadership in Nigeria is mediocre and other observant Nigerians will agree with us that Nigeria cannot endure another four years of this embarrassing failure. The people in government vowed to fight corruption, but rather they are romancing corruption as evidenced in the myriads of embarrassing scandals they have been enmeshed in since 2015.”

Expanding on reasons President Buhari lost the polls and will also lose to Atiku in 2019, the group said: "The APC has also failed to fix the economy, rather their indecision and sometimes curious decisions have caused the loss of about 8 million jobs, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). Based on their reckless utterances, acts of omission and commission, Nigeria is more divided along ethnic/religious lines today than at any other time in the country’s history.

“As shown in the results of polls, Nigerians are rooting for Atiku because he has a history of creating wealth and employing millions of people even in his private capacity; he is a detribalised Nigerian who understands the diverse and complex nature of the nation, a sound mind who also has eagle eyes for talents and who will not waste time to appoint credible world-class professionals who will work with him to reposition the economy. Based on his recent utterances and conduct, he has shown that Nigerian youths will be the bedrock of his administration come 2019.”

The group said in the press statement that it has made significant progress in the actualization of its self-imposed core mandate which is to mobilise at least 4 million youths with voters' cards to vote for Atiku in the 2019 election.

“Our core mandate is to mobilise 2 million Nigerian youths with Permanent Voters’ Cards who also have the capacity to mobilise at least one friend or relative with PVCs to vote for Atiku in the 2019 Presidential election. The response of our compatriots so far has been very encouraging and everywhere we go people cannot wait to jump on the Atiku train because he is the last hope of the masses who have been at the receiving end of the incompetence, arrogance and deceit of the present administration,” the statement concluded.

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