The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), an arm of The Economist of London, has predicted that the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, will win the 2023 presidential election.
The UK-based platform predicted in a new country report that the controversy of the Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket will not affect Tinubu’s chances in the elections.
EIU said: “We expect Tinubu to take the presidency and recent developments have only reinforced our thinking. It does not appear that a Muslim-Muslim ticket will weigh significantly on Tinubu’s electoral chances.”
It will be recalled that the decision of the APC and Tinubu to pick former Borno State governor, Senator Kashim Shettima, a Muslim like Tinubu, as the party’s vice presidential candidate had generated controversy in the past few weeks.
The stakeholders opposed to the Tinubu/Shettima ticket include the Christian Association of Nigeria, prompting speculations among political analysts that the Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket could adversely affect the chances of the APC in the elections.
With regard to the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the EIU country report said he has every cause to be worried over his running battle with PDP stalwart and governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike.
The report also said Atiku has reasons to be worried about the likelihood of the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, eating into his votes in the traditional stronghold of the PDP in the Southeast.
The report said: “Atiku has more cause to worry. Not only is Obi eating into the PDP’s South-eastern support base, Governor Wike, who finished second in the primary, does not appear to be interested in endorsing him.”
It added that the Electoral Act 2022 would bring less disputes about the presidential election results and reduce the influence of politicians on the outcome of the election.
A poll recently commissioned by Anap Foundation and conducted by NOI Polls Limited had predicted Obi as winner of the 2023 presidential election with 21 per cent of votes.
Source: The Nation
