By Jude Atupulazi
As the 2023 presidential election zeroes in, the presidential candidate of Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi, has continued to sit pretty at the top of ratings ahead of the polls. In a latest poll concluded last Monday by Nigerians Decide, an independent research think-tank based in the United States of America, Obi once more emerged the leading candidate among the top four.
Obi polled 1,856,537 to lead his closest rivals Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP); Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC); and Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP).
Atiku had 1,539,568 votes; Tinubu, 1,486,401 and Kwankwaso polled 12,907 votes, according to the latest poll released by the U.S. based research group.
According to the US-based organisation, the online opinion poll was launched on December 6, 2022 and concluded on, Tuesday, January 31, 2023. The poll was launched to determine and predict the possible direction and outcome of the 2023 general elections in Nigeria.
‘We are glad to launch www.nigeriansdecide.com, a United States of America-based non-profit and independent research think-tank. We conduct opinion polls on matters of public policy, like public engagement and participation in democratic exercise,’ the agency’s project director, Rosalynn Carte, had said in a statement.
Fides gathered that the poll had no connection, relationship or link with any politician or organisation interested in Nigerian politics, but purely for data collection, according to a source, Nigerian Tribune.
This is the fourth time Obi will be leading after a poll and to many, it only confirms the belief that Nigeria may indeed witness a new order as championed by Obi whose support base cuts across many states and age groups, particularly the youth.