‘Intensely partisan’ — APC campaign rejects Nextier poll forecasting Obi as preferred candidate

Bayo Onanuga, media director of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential campaign council, has rejected the outcome of the pre-election opinion poll commissioned by Nextier, a consulting firm.

The poll result, released on Sunday, projected Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) as the preferred presidential candidate ahead of the elections.

The result showed that 37 percent of the 3,000 respondents expressed their interest to vote for Obi if the election was held at the time, while Bola Tinubu of the APC got 24 percent.

Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) got 27 percent, while Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) was a distant fourth with six percent.

The poll was conducted on January 27.

The organisation said though the poll resulted in LP securing the highest voter performance, “it is unlikely to secure an outright first-round victory in the presidential election.

In a statement on Sunday, Onanuga said promoters of Nextiers polls are members of the LP and “active campaigners for the presidential candidate”.

Onanuga said the poll was intensely partisan and ridiculous, describing it as a fairytale and fantasy that was deliberately put out to set grounds for political crisis and riots in the country after the elections.

“For a start, Nigerians should know that promoters of Nextier are members of Mr. Peter Obi’s presidential campaign council and active campaigners for the Labour Party presidential candidate,” the statement reads.

“Any poll conducted by such an intensely partisan and prejudicially tainted organisation should be taken with a pinch of salt. This is apart from the fact that the sample size of the so-called poll and methodology employed cannot stand any integrity test.

“The summary of Nextier’s so-called face-to-face nationwide poll is that Peter Obi is the preferred candidate of 37% of Nigerians with a conclusion that the Presidential election will go into a run-off. 

“We make bold to say this is wishful thinking without any basis in fact and reality. It is important to alert Nigerians and the international community that the pollsters at Nextier are working for the Labour Party and their poll results are all cooked up, far away from reality.

“We want to state categorically that Peter Obi is not a major contender in the coming presidential election in Nigeria and no fantasy and fairytale poll can change the material facts.”