In accordance with the nation’s electoral laws, presidential contenders in Nigeria’s general elections, which begin this weekend, wrapped up their campaigns mid-week.
On February 25, in addition to elections for the national assembly, there will be 18 candidates running for president. A total of 93,469,008 voters have been registered by Nigeria’s electoral agency, the Independent National Electoral Commission, across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory to decide the destiny of the presidential contenders.
After wrapping up its approximately six-month-long statewide engagement with supporters and voters, Nigeria’s ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) party declared that it is confident it will “coast home to victory” in the presidential election.
At a press conference on Wednesday (22 Feb. 2023) in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria, the APC Presidential Campaign Committee informed reporters that President Muhammadu Buhari’s attendance at a significant rally in the southwestern state of Lagos on Tuesday (21 Feb. 2023) marked the pinnacle of their electoral campaign.
“The hundreds of thousands of enthusiastic supporters and party members that thronged our rallies, and those that marched on the streets to welcome our candidates attest to the popularity and acceptability of our party and flagbearers by the masses,” said Dele Alake, lead spokesman for the ruling party’s campaign council.
The APC presidential candidate Bola Ahmed Tinubu visited all 36 of the nation’s states and returned to many of them for additional engagements during the ruling party’s presidential campaign season, which officially began in the central Plateau state in November 2022. Alake called it “exciting and animating.”
The 76-year-old Atiku Abubakar, the nominee for president of the main opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP), is of the opinion that his “imminent triumph” in the upcoming election will be “a deliverance for Nigerians.”
In a statement released on Thursday, Dele Momodu, a senior spokesman for the PDP Presidential Campaign Committee, claimed that recent meetings with Nigerians from all socioeconomic groups during Abubakar’s statewide campaign had earned him their favor.
“Abubakar’s hustings across all parts of Nigeria confirmed further to him how grievously Nigerians are suffering and how desperately they desire and pray for deliverance. The programs and manifesto aligned and connected with the inner desires, hunger, and prayers of millions of Nigerians,” Momodu said.
In several tweets Wednesday, Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labor Party, urged the voters to consider him for the country’s top job, saying his victory would bring “change” to the West African nation.
“The world is watching. We must take our destined position as the giant of Africa. You and I know the right thing to do. The greatest lie one can tell is a lie to one’s soul. If you are still undecided, please talk to yourself. Allow your conscience to guide you,” Obi said.
The 61-year-old presidential candidate hopeful said one of his main aims was to move the Nigerian economy from importing and consuming products to “producing, consuming less, and exporting more,” adding that “it is the essence of consumption to production.”
Ref: Xinhua
