THE People’s Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate for the 2023 election, Atiku Abubakar, has more social media followers on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram than his rivals in other parties, checks by The ICIR have shown.
Abubakar is vying for the country’s most exalted office for the fifth time against over a dozen other candidates, among which three are prominent.
They are Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP), and Musa Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP).
However, the former vice president created his accounts long before his three main rivals, possibly giving him an edge over them.
The ICIR checks showed that as of Sunday, October 9, the former vice president had 1.1 million followers on his Facebook page, 468,000 on Instagram and 4.5 million on Twitter.
Abubakar created his Facebook page on May 27, 2008, Twitter in August 2010, and Instagram in January 2014.
Obi has 606,579 followers on his Facebook page. He attracts 2.2 million followers on Twitter and has garnered 394,000 followers on Instagram.
He created his Facebook page on April 1, 2016, Twitter account in October 2018, and Instagram account in May 2022.
Bola Tinubu parades 255,742 followers on Facebook, 1.4 million followers on Twitter, and 138,000 followers on Instagram.
The former Lagos State governor created his Facebook and Instagram pages in January 2022 and Twitter in February 2012.
Kwankwaso has 59,000 followers on Facebook, approximately 249,000 followers on Twitter and about 18,000 followers on Instagram.
The former Kano State governor created all three accounts in February 2018.
He is having his third shot at the presidency after seeking the APC and PDP’s tickets at the primaries in 2015 and 2019, respectively, and losing.
The ICIR reports that all the accounts are verified, except for Kwankwaso’s Facebook and Twitter accounts and Peter Obi’s Instagram page.
Obi may have created his Instagram account in May this year to boost his electioneering. The same applies to Tinubu, who created his Facebook and Instagram accounts in January this year.
Both candidates are vying for the presidency for the first time.
While social media bolster electioneering, Nigerians’ common belief is that votes are not cast, and elections are not won on social media but at the polling booth.
It is also common knowledge in Nigeria that many social media users do not vote during elections because of apathy.
Recall that Atiku Abubakar had said earlier this year that 90 per cent of people in the North, where he hails from, are not on social media.
The presidential election will be held on February 25, 2023.
Marcus bears the light, and he beams it everywhere. He's a good governance and decent society advocate. He's The ICIR Reporter of the Year 2022 and has been the organisation's News Editor since September 2022. Contact him via email @ [email protected].