TheCable

The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), an arm of The Economist of London, has predicted victory for Bola Tinubu, presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, in the 2023 presidential election.

According to Business Day, EIU made the prediction in a new country report.

The UK-based platform, in the country report, said the controversy of the Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket will not affect Tinubu’s chances in the elections.

“We expect Tinubu to take the presidency, and recent developments have only reinforced our thinking. It does not appear that a Muslim-Muslim ticket will weigh significantly on Tinubu’s electoral chances,” EIU said.

In the past few weeks, controversy has trailed the decision of the APC and Tinubu to settle for Kashim Shettima, former governor of Borno, who is a Muslim, as vice-presidential candidate.

Many stakeholders, including the Christian Association of Nigeria, have kicked against the decision of the APC.

Political analysts have speculated that the Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket may affect the chances of the APC in the elections.

On the chances of Atiku Abubakar at the polls, the EIU country report said the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has cause to worry over the feud with Nyesom Wike, governor of Rivers.

The report added that Atiku should also be worried about how Peter Obi of the Labour Party will balkanise the traditional votes of the PDP in the south-east.

“Atiku has more cause to worry. Not only is Obi eating into the PDP’s South-eastern support base, but Governor Wike, who finished second in the primary, does not appear to be interested in endorsing him,” the report said.

The report said the Electoral Act 2022 would bring less disputes about the presidential election results and reduce the influence of politicians on the outcome of the election.

Recently, a poll, commissioned by Anap Foundation and conducted by NOI Polls Limited, predicted Obi, LP presidential candidate, as winner of the 2023 presidential election with 21 percent of votes.

The three other leading political parties in the race — APC, PDP and New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) — rejected the outcome of the poll.