For the umpteenth time, Peter Obi, the Labour Party candidate, has defeated three other leading candidates in the 2023 presidential election in a fresh poll conducted by Nextier — a public policy advisory firm.
The poll which sampled opinions of registered voters in rural areas showed that Obi floored Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Atiku Abubakar, and Rabiu Kwankwaso — the respective presidential candidates of the All Progressives Candidate (APC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP).
THE WHISTLER reports that the result of the fresh poll is in line with previous polls which puts the Labour Party presidential candidate ahead of the ruling party.
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Nextier conducted the poll in two states per six of the country’s geo-political zones and excluded the home states of the presidential candidates and their running mates. Also, the poll targeted one PDP and one APC-controlled state per zone.
All respondents, according to the firm, are registered to vote and were quizzed face-to-face during the poll held in Nasarawa and Benue (North Central), Gombe and Bauchi (North East), Kebbi and Sokoto (North West), Cross River and Edo (South-South), Imo and Abia (South East) as well as Ogun and Oyo (South West).
The firm sampled the preferred candidates of 2,000 eligible voters with an error margin of 2.2 percent.
Obi led with 40.37 percent of respondents who intend to vote choosing him while Atiku came second with 26.7 percent. Tinubu came third with 20.47 percent.
Respondents who chose Atiku and Tinubu are persons with “no educational attainments or people who chose not to disclose their educational status.”
The firm said 76.2 percent of the respondents stated that “Nigeria is moving in the wrong direction,” noting worsening insecurity, bad governance, unemployment, and a weak economy as clear indicators.
The result further showed that “Peter Obi has the highest net favourability of the presidential candidates amongst survey respondents at +30 percent. Atiku Abubakar is at +17.3 percent and Bola Tinubu at 4.98 percent. Kwankwaso is at -8.70 percent.
“Eight out of ten respondents are definite that nothing will make them change their minds and vote for another candidate,” adding that respondents identified radio, social media and family/ friends as the main channels through which they get information on the different presidential candidates.
Atiku emerged as the preferred candidate among Muslims while those who picked Obi are those who “self-identify as religious or not.”
THE WHISTLER exclusively reported in October that a similar poll commissioned by Tinubu, the ruling APC’s candidate, returned Obi as the preferred candidate of respondents with 64 percent of the sampled views supporting the Labour Party candidate.
A previous poll commissioned by ANAP Foundation and conducted by NOI Polls Limited had also placed Obi as the winner of the 2023 presidential race with 21% of votes while Tinubu and Atiku tied in second place with 13 percent of votes.
Bloomberg News, an international news agency headquartered in New York City, U.S., revealed that a poll conducted on its behalf by Premise Data Corp showed that 72% of 3,973 Nigerians who participated picked Obi as their first choice among the leading presidential candidates.
In the poll, Tinubu garnered 16% while Atiku got 9% of the decided voters.
The American news medium identified Obi’s “enthusiastic base known as Obidents”, which began initially online but eventually moved to the streets, as a major factor working for him.
The movement started mostly by youths, identifies with Obi’s promise of frugality and accountability against the wasteful spending that many Nigerian leaders are known for.