The People’s Trust (PT) presidential candidate, Mr Gbenga Olawepo Hashim, has maintained the lead as most popular presidential candidate on social media.
The latest rating from the weekly social media rating of presidential candidates Tuesday showed Olawepo-Hashim retains the lead as the most popular presidential candidate online.
According to the data collected by an Abuja-based research outfit ‘Grandplan’, the PT presidential candidate was ahead of the All Progressives Congress candidate Muhammadu Buhari and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
Mr Hashim, who first overtook president Buhari and Atiku on 10th December 2018, has remained on top ever since.
Going by the data on Tuesday, February 12th, 2019 in Abuja, Olawepo-Hashim recorded Facebook engagements in excess of 63,000, while Atiku recorded 56,000 plus and Buhari was far behind with only 6000+ engagements.
Also, the data showed that the Young Progressives Party (YPP) presidential candidate, Kingsley Moghalu, the Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN) candidate Fela Durotoye and others were trailing behind.
Data analysts involved in the polling project said that the data on each of the candidates’ were realistic because “Facebook represents the broad spectrum of voters who will vote in the February poll.”
“Increasing engagements imply voters’ growing interest in the candidates while a decreasing result reflects voters’ disenchantment. A static return means a candidate is at a crossroads in the campaign.
“He is no longer part of the pack of third-party candidates. He has moved ahead to emerge as a real alternative to both Buhari and Atiku. This is a game changer from the perspective of data”, Segun Seriki, the lead analyst for the project said.
“The latest data point to a major upset within the struggle for Nigeria’s presidency, we are making the report available to all the major candidates.”
“Our latest data reflect a major upset in the battle for the Presidency. It is no longer a two- horse race. There is now a third force that is overtaking the old alternatives. We are still following the data but for now, Olawepo-Hashim has pulled the impossible to maintain an eight weeks lead over President Buhari and Atiku Abubakar”, he said.
The analysts said in their report that Olawepo-Hashim’s growing engagement rating is a measure of voters’ interest in him as a third force alternative.
