Overconfidence, complacency, bad tactics – Buhari explains why opposition lost presidential election

President Muhammadu Buhari has asserted that opposition parties failed to win the February 25 presidential election because of overconfidence.

According to Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Buhari spoke on Thursday at his residence in the State House, where he received the Progressive Governors Forum, led by its chairman, Governor Abubakar Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi State.

Buhari said: “They were already telling their foreign backers they would defeat the APC. Our party blended confidence with caution; we worked hard and won. Their overconfidence is creating more problems for the opposition than anyone else. They find it hard to convince those who supported them from the outside why they cannot beat us.

A combination of overconfidence, complacency and bad tactical moves made them lose, plain and clear. It has created more problems in their camp. Why did they fail to remove us?”

In response to an issue raised by Governor Bagudu, the leader of the forum, President Buhari said: “An important reason I congratulate Asiwaju on winning is that the opposition got support and false hope from outside and went on to create the impression that they will win, that they will defeat us. How more wrong could anyone be?”