This has been a consequential election for Nigeria in many ways. Whilst 2015 landed a validation in the belief that an incumbent president and political party can be defeated, 2023 has shown that politics has further shifted. Several fundamental things helped to shift the dynamics of the election before the monumental effect of votes from a whole new generation, Gen Z!
The APC’s Tinubu-Shettima Muslim-Muslim ticket asked a lot of a substantial number of Christian voters across the country. The PDP’s Atiku ticket that would have extended the north’s hold on ‘Mr. President’ asked too much of many southern voters. Add these to the fact there is a substantial number of Nigerians who now prefer a political order led by anything but PDP or APC, there was indeed an opportunity to upset the power balance.
Then came Peter Obi, the man who reaped the harvest of angry voters; the ones who could not stand a Muslim-Muslim ticket, the ones who felt another…
