Former Vice President of Nigeria and Presidential hopeful of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar has emerged winner of a series of social media polls.
The polls were conducted by alleged loyalists of President Muhammadu Buhari, with the latest being a 6-day Twitter poll by one of his popular supporters on social media, Japheth Omojuwa.
A number of pro-Buhari influencers and supporters had, following the third anniversary of the administration on May 29, initiated polls ostensibly to test the popularity of President Buhari.
However, Atiku trumped Buhari in the earlier polls conducted by Mark Essien via @markessien and Y! Online via @YNaija. The same fate befell Buhari as Atiku defeated the president in the two polls conducted simultaneously by Omojuwa.
In the first poll, Atiku garnered 35% of the votes compared to Buhari’s 32%. Fela Durotoye and Omoyele Sowore, the two other contestants, scored 21% and 12% respectively. In the second poll, Atiku secured 39% of the votes while Buhari came second with 34%.
The other two aspirants, Prof. Kingsley Moghalu and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso scored 18% and 9% respectively. In both polls, respondents were asked: “Who would you vote for President if elections were held today?” Of the total combined votes of 81,065, Atiku secured 29,672 representing a cumulative percentage of 36.6% compared to Buhari’s 26,590 representing 32.8%.
But when results of the polls by the pro-Buhari loyalists are aggregated, it gives Atiku a 9% lead over Buhari with the PDP presidential hopeful securing 41% of the 106,000 votes as opposed to Buhari’s 32%. In the first online poll conducted by Mark Essien, a pro-Buhari influencer, Atiku polled 43% as against Buhari’s 35%.
Blogger and online newspaper publisher, Omoyele Sowore and former deputy governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Prof. Kingsley Moghalu polled 7% and 15% respectively. An overwhelming majority of the 9,067 respondents voted for Atiku, giving him an 8% edge over President Buhari as at the close of voting.
In the second poll conducted by @YNaija, a youth blog run by Red Media, Atiku handed Buhari a crushing defeat of 70% versus 19%.
The other participants in the poll, Prof. Kingsley Moghalu and Mr. Fela Durotoye polled 6% and 5% respectively, Vanguard reports.
At the end of the voting of 7,444 respondents, 7 out of every 10 respondents representing about 5,210 settled for Atiku compared to Buhari’s vote of 1,414; Moghalu’s 446 and Durotoye’s 372. The outcome of the four polls is a reflection of result of the latest poll by NOI/Gallup Poll which saw President Buhari’s rating drop to 41%.
In that NO1/Gallup Poll also, the administration’s 3-year scorecard in the critical sectors that have the greatest impact on the lives of ordinary Nigerians, the presumed base of the president were dismal: Economy (16%), Job Creation (15%) and Poverty Alleviation (12%).
