The weekly social media rating of presidential candidates’ engagements on Facebook, on Wednesday showed that Peoples Trust’s presidential candidate, Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim maintained the lead in engagements over All Progressives Congress’ presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari and Atiku Abubakar of Peoples Democratic Party.
The development comes amid reports that about 70 percent of the voting population have yet to decide on who to vote for in the scheduled February 16 presidential election.
Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission, Professor Mahmoud Yakubu, had recently hinted that the youth population, who are mostly on the social media, might decide the winner of the election.
A spokesman of PT said that these reports have excited the Presidential Campaign Organisation of Olawepo-Hashim, who overtook Buhari and Abubakar on 10th December 2018, and has remained on top with the highest engagements on social media for four consecutive weeks. He said that the ratings has shown that Olawepo-Hashim is the most prominent presidential candidate that is being discussed on the social media, going by the data released on Wednesday, January 9th, 2019 in Abuja.
Olawepo-Hashim recorded over 17 000 Facebook engagements, while Abubakar, who came second, recorded a little over 14,000, as President Muhammadu Buhari came third with over 3,000 engagements. The presidential candidates of Young Progressives Party (YPP), Kingsley Moghalu, Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN), Fela Durotoye and other presidential candidates trails behind the leaders.
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.”
The analysts said in their report that Olawepo-Hashim’s growing engagements’ rating was a measure of voters’ interest in him as a third force alternative. “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 data perspective,” lead analyst for the project, Segun Seriki 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 a four-week lead over President Buhari and Atiku Abubakar,” he said.
