Tinubu reacts as Peter Obi leads in NOI Poll on 2023 elections, says “It’s dubious”

The All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council on Thursday said that the candidate of the ruling party in the upcoming 2023 Elections, Bola Ahmed Tinubu is unmoved by a presidential survey conducted by frontline polling company, NOI polls.

The new opinion poll on the fortunes of the candidates for the 2023 presidential elections released today by ANAP Foundation shows Peter Obi of the Labour Party holding a significant lead over both Tinubu and Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

In the nationwide poll conducted this month, Obi, a former governor of Anambra State, stands at 21% while both Tinubu and Atiku are tied in second place with 13% each. Rabiu Musa Kwankwanso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) is at a distant fourth with only 3%.

But reacting to the outcome of the poll, the APC Presidential Campaign Council in a statement signed by its Director of Media and Publicity, Bayo Onanuga, described the NOI polls as “dubious”.

According to the council, the NOI polls are not dependable at all.

“We are unperturbed by these dubious and unreliable statistics because our research shows that NOI Polls have been off the mark at critical election periods in recent times,” the statement by Onanuga said.

Furthermore, it noted for example that preparatory to the March 2015 presidential elections, NOI published in October 2014 the results of a “Viability Poll” which used the concepts of Familiarity and Net Favourability Position to survey.

“In the results, NOI claimed that President Goodluck Jonathan has the best overall familiarity rating at 99% and Net Favourability Probability of ±25.

“By contrast, NOI dismissed the then All Progressives Congress candidate, Muhammadu Buhari as a ‘borderline candidate’ who needed ‘huge public relations’ to shore up his performance.

“But when the Nigerian people went to the polls, who won? The APC candidate and now President, Muhammadu Buhari.

“This is not the only instance when the NOI has turned its political bias in an election period to fraudulent statistics”, the council stated.

ANAP foundation has traditionally organised political opinion polls ahead of each of the presidential elections since 2011 and are conducted by NOI polls.