A poll conducted by the Democratic Research Initiative, a Research and Strategy Institution, has projected a landslide victory for Vice-President, Yemi Osinbajo, in the ongoing presidential primary of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The party fixed its primary election for June 6 to 8 at Eagle Square, Abuja.

The results of the poll conducted by sampling voting decisions of eligible delegates across the country placed the vice-president ahead of the 22 other aspirants jostling for the presidential ticket of the ruling party.

Apart from Osinbajo, the other aspirants cleared by the John Odigie-Oyegun-led screening panel are a former Governor of Lagos State, Bola Tinubu; Senate President, Ahmad Lawan; former Minister of Education (State), Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, former Minister of Science and Technology Ogbonnaya Onu; former Akwa-Ibom State Governor, Godwin Akpabio; former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi; former Ogun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun; Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello; Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi and Tein Jack-Rich.

Also in the race are a former Senate President, Ken Nnamani, a senator, Ajayi Boroffice; former Minister of Information; Ikeobasi Mokelu; former Speaker of House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole; Governor Ben Ayade of Cross Rivers State; and former governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha.

The poll was conducted before Nnamani pulled out of the race on Monday.

The former Senate President cited a lack of insincerity on zoning and the poor management of the primary election activities as reasons for quitting the race.

It was also conducted before the party’s governors and leader scaled down the number of aspirants from 23 to five. Those who got the nod are Tinubu, Amaechi, Osinbajo, Fayemi and Umahi.

While 2,322 delegates selected across 768 local governments and six area councils in Abuja will decide the fate of the aspirants between Monday and Wednesday, the poll by the research institution involved not less than 1,190 delegates.

Poll results

According to the result of the poll posted on the institute’s website, Osinbajo scored 648 votes which accounted for 28 per cent of the total votes cast while his former ally, Tinubu, came second with 326 votes. This is 16 per cent of the total votes cast.

Amaechi, another strong contender from the Southsouth, was projected to finish third with 88 votes. He is followed by Akpabio (47 votes), Fayemi (34 votes), Bello (28 votes), Umahi (18 votes) and Lawan (1 Vote).

DRI, in its breakdown obtained by this newspaper, said the “approach adopted in collecting the required information for this survey was the Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) approach.”

“The interviewers were trained in on-call etiquette, data capturing and data fluency. The questionnaire was administered in English, Pidgin English, Yoruba, Hausa and Ibo. The data collection exercise spanned through May 26th to June 3rd 2022,” the institute noted.

As the APC continued to build towards consensus presidential candidates, 13 out of the 14 APC governors from the north demanded that the presidential ticket of the party be zoned to the southern part of the country.

“After careful deliberation, we wish to state our firm conviction that after eight years in the office of President Muhammadu Buhari, the presidential candidate of the APC for the 2023 elections should be one of our teeming members from the southern states of Nigeria. It is a question of honour for the APC, an obligation that is not in any way affected by the decisions taken by another political party. We affirm that upholding this principle is in the interest of building a stronger, more united and more progressive country,” the governors said in a statement over the weekend.

PT