Nigeria’s highly anticipated 2019 presidential election will finally be happening on Saturday February 16th. And from several indications, many people want the incumbent President to lose; including some foreign investors.
Analysts at Citigroup believe that some foreign investors want President Muhammadu Buhari to lose the election this Saturday. This would enable his main opponent, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, to take over and hopefully revamp the economy.
President Buhari’s possible loss at the polls this weekend is also expected to help the Stock Market to rally, according to the Analysts.
Note that the Nigerian Stock Market has been underperforming since President Buhari took over the country’s affairs in 2015. His possible loss could end this trend.
“Nigeria’s stock market may rally if President Muhammadu Buhari loses this weekend’s election, according to analysts at Citigroup, ending a run that’s seen it fall more than any other in the world in dollar terms since the 76-year-old former general came to office in May 2015.
Some foreign investors would prefer a government led by Buhari’s main challenger, businessman and ex-Vice President Atiku Abubakar.”
A confusing choice to make
While foreign investors are not the ones to decide who gets to govern the country over the next four years, their presence and contributions (through Foreign Portfolio Investments) to the Nigerian economy are indispensable. For this reason, they too can be classified as stakeholders.
In the meantime, however, some of the actual stakeholders (i.e., the electorates) are undecided about which of the two main candidates to choose.
Just yesterday, President Buhari was allegedly booed by spectators in Abeokuta during a rally. This happened just a few days after many electorates in Lagos were angered by the fact that some notorious, traffic-causing vehicles were temporarily cleared off major roads for the President’s visit.
There have also been talks about President Buhari’s inability to proffer solution to the country’s economic challenges.
But the main opposition candidate, Mr Abubakar, isn’t the perfect choice either. Some of the economic agendas so far disclosed by him have been perceived as outrageous. Moreover, the presidential hopeful has been immersed in some corruption scandals.
As Nigerians prepare to elect their future President on February 16th, there are possibilities that either one of the two main candidates can emerge victorious. But no matter who among the two eventually wins, they may not be the right choice to lead the country out of its economic and political difficulties.
Saying foreign investors want Mr. Buhari to lose the election so that Mr. Atiku can revamp the economy of Nigeria is an enlightened Nigerian’s way of saying that the foreign “investors” want their plantation (Nigeria) back and they cannot wait for their agent to see to it that it is promptly returned to them. What investment? What benefits are the majority of Nigerians deriving from these “investments”?
Thank you for your opinion, Mr Adeyeye.
Let’s all wait and see how it plays out come Saturday.
Everybody knows that on a basis of 10, Buhari has 6/10 to win this election. According to your write up, will foreign investors that prefer Atiku take a huge risk at this particular point in time? Put yourself in that shoe pls. Investors know that Buhari will surely win the election and they are expecting the current govt policies to continue.
It appears that this article lacks depth because the information which it is based on seems to be the opinion of “analysts at Citigroup” and a sentence the length of my three years old’s first complete sentence. Please remind me if Citigroup is a political vehicle or a financial institution? If it is the later and their opinion on a rallying stock exchange is the outcome of an election, then that is completely flawed. Market rallies on complex mix of parameters, politics being one of them. I would hope that Nairametric isn’t soliciting writers to fill its website with blogs/hearsay when the content of those write-up aren’t robust to justify the time spent reading them.
Thank you for your comment, Mr Owolabi.
I am sorry that this news report does not sit well with your political leanings.
But please, it is very wrong of you to try and discredit it for what it is — NEWS.
And no, Nairametrics does not solicit writers to fill its website with blogs/hearsay.
I am a core stock market investor, the market index is close to 32,000 basis point which is a key resistance level to watch. That level has been tested once before a pull back and here, the same level is being tested again. Fundamentally, the outcome of the election can either break that point or weaken the bullish run we have seen in the past trading days.
I am neither a supporter of Buhari or Atiku but I think FDI may surge if the latter wins, his proposed economic policy is private-sector oriented and such is a core driver of “patient capital”, not “hot money”. I forsee a market rally if Atiku wins and from an investment perspective, it is not bad if the market rallies, afterall, Buhari is only fighting a fictitious corruption which he doesn’t know is resident in his cabal.
The bible said ” Beware of Dog” and where do you find dogs? in your house.
I blog at https://www.nigerianstockstobuy.com
Thank you Nairametrics for this post.
You sounded so confused sir
In one breath you’re neither atiku or buhari’s supporter and by the last paragraph you made an obvious choice by your preference!
You even have (invented) a ‘Bible’ with the a non-existent verse in it!
Waoh, the way people play blind politics in this country
May God save us from us