2023: Tinubu, Peter Obi, Kwankwaso, Atiku Step Up Moves To Harvest Northern Votes

Fresh indications suggest that the four leading contenders in the presidential race ahead of the 2023 general election have stepped up moves to canvass for votes in the northern part of the country.

Naija News reports that the flag bearer of the Peoples Democratic Party( PDP), Atiku Abubakar and his counterparts in the All Progressives Congress( APC), Bola Tinubu, Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi and the New Nigerians Peoples Party (NNPP), Rabiu Kwankwaso have doubled efforts in consultation towards securing support from various stakeholders in the region.

It was gathered that findings from Nigerian Tribune revealed that foot soldiers of the four major contenders have soldiers stepped up consultations and electioneering at the grassroots at the weekend as a follow-up to the campaigns by the party candidates at different state capitals in the region.

This platform understands that the region which includes the North-West, North-East and North-Central zones, was the centre of attraction for political activities by foot soldiers of the major parties and party leaders.

It is well understood that the battle to conquer the region by the major contenders is not disassociated with figures from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that reveal that out of the total of 93 million registered voters for the coming election, 49 million of them are from the northern region.

A source who pleaded anonymity as gathered by Naija News told Nigerian Tribune that leadership of the PDP was reaching out to some prominent northern politicians from the APC and other political parties to rally their support for Atiku.

The source who is a PDP loyalist said “we don’t want to make noise.

“In Jigawa, Sokoto, Kebbi, Katsina and Kaduna states in recent times, we are receiving defectors to our party. For instance, the son of Senator Wamakko, the leader of APC in Sokoto, recently defected to PDP.”

Also, it was learnt that Tinubu’s meeting with religious leaders from the North-West side of the region recently and his running mate, Kashim Shettima visits to the palaces of Emirs of, Kazaure, Katsina, Zazzau, among others were all connected to the moves.

A breakdown of the INEC voters statistics for the region further showed that out of the 49 million total voters from the region, the North-West has the highest number of registered voters with 22. 67 million, while the North-Central has 14. 1 million and North-East, with 12. 8 million registered voters.

Kwankwaso and Obi are believed to have a marginal presence in the North West at the moment.

As gathered from Nigerian Tribune, some analysts believe that the North-Central is regarded as the stronghold of Peter Obi, because a significant number of the Igbos reside in Benue, Nasarawa, and Plateau states and the main promotes of the Obidient Movement.

Obi according to them has support in the southern part of Kaduna because of the Labour Party governorship candidate, Jonathan Asake, while Kwankwaso has an appreciable following in both Kano and Jigawa states.

Both Obi and Kwankwaso according to the report are said to be reaching out to the locals for their support, with massive support from the youths involved in the movement.

In the North-East, Borno and Adamawa are states regarded to be key for both the APC and PDP, in view of the fact that both Shettima and Atiku hail from the two states respectively.

Other key states are Bauchi, Gombe that Obi and Kwankwaso could get some votes, while, Taraba too could go to Obi because of the influence of General Theopilus Danjuma.