Latest Anap Polls That Placed Peter Obi In The Lead Was Skewed To Encourage Obidients – Festus Kyamo Says

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has also come out to react to the latest Anap Foundation polls that revealed that the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi has gained more ground than his counterparts in other parties in the northcentral.

According to the APC, the polls were “deliberately skewed” to encourage the supporters of Obi popularly called ‘Obidients’ because their enthusiasms have waned in recent times.

Naija News reports that the Chief Spokesperson for the Tinubu/Shettima Presidential Campaign Council, Festus Keyamo in a statement sent to Channels TV on Thursday night said the Anap poll was the end of December “fallacy” with many unanswered questions.

Keyamo, who faulted the process of the polls opined it was used to encourage Obidients because they have seen the hard realities on the ground on the campaign trail.

The APC chieftain submitted that there was therefore no need to join issues with or analyse what he described as a fallacious poll.

Naija News reported on Thursday that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had also reacted saying such exercise has little impact on the outcome of elections.

This platform gathered that the Director of Support Group & Events Technical Committee of Atiku For President 2023, Fabiyi Oladimeji told Channels TV that “We are not making any assumptions. This is what we are saying: polls are not real determinants of elections. It is how many people you are able to convince and reach out to at the grassroots, not polls.

“It will only tell you where to work and focus more. There are credible polls and there are polls that are not credible.

“We know those credible ones when we see them and when we see them, they spur us more to go to work and do the needful. So, we appreciate them when they come. That’s what polls help you to do, they do not tell you the outcome of the elections.”

Both reactions follow a poll that was released on Wednesday by the Anap Foundation stating that Obi has a lead over his counterparts in the APC, Bola Tinubu, PDP, Atiku  Abubakar and the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) in the north-central.

Naija News reported on Monday that the latest Anap polls reveal that Obi pulled 24% which represents an 8% increase from the September poll while Tinubu scored 9%, a 7% decrease from the last poll.

The latest poll is the second of its kind from the foundation, as the first was released in September.

However, Naija News understands that Keyamo in the statement raised doubt about the credibility and the process of the polls.

He said “There is no need to join issues with or analyse this fallacious polls any further once you see the methodology by which the polls was conducted: according to Atedo Peterside, it was ONLY by phone that it was conducted because of the ‘insecurity’ across the country. They did not conduct a person-to-person enquiry.

“QUESTIONS: (1.) How did they ascertain the phone numbers of those who reside or are registered in a particular State? (2) If it is from the INEC register (was it made available to them?) how did they ascertain those that have collected their PVCs and are eligible to vote, since the collection of PVC just began? (3).

“Assuming the INEC register was not made available to them, and they randomly sampled opinions by phone numbers and asked people to state their locations or where they are registered to vote, what gave them the assurance that respondents truthfully stated their locations? (4). It is a fact that many people in Nigeria have two to three phone numbers; if so, how sure are they that many respondents did not respond by different phone numbers that they may have? (5). It is also true that millions of under-18-year-olds have access to phones in Nigeria and the world, how did they ascertain the ages of those responding to their supposed enquiries?

“Many unanswered questions. In all, in a complex country like Nigeria, anything short of person-to-person polling, including harvesting enquiries from far-flung rural areas and in local languages, is a complete exercise in futility.

“Finally, my considered opinion is that this poll is deliberately skewed to encourage the supporters of a particular candidate whose enthusiasms have waned in recent times in the face of the hard realities they have seen on the ground on the campaign trail.”