Asserting that many of his fans do not use social media, Rabiu Kwankwaso criticises polls that forecast the outcome of the presidential election.
Recall that several surveys were produced prior to the elections, and the bulk of them predicted that Peter Obi of the Labour Party would win. The most recent is a poll done by Bloomberg News that put Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) in the lead for this month’s presidential election.
In a pre-election poll conducted by Premise Data Corp for Bloomberg News, the former governor of Anambra was ranked higher than Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
However, Kwankwaso, who is standing as a candidate for the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), has disregarded these predictions, claiming they don’t reflect the actual situation.
READ ALSO: New Bloomberg Poll Shows Peter Obi Leading Tinubu, Atiku And Others
According to Kwankwaso, who noted that the majority of these surveys have several objectives, one of which is to solicit funds, the sample size for these polls is insufficient and does not accurately represent the preferences of the populace. He asserted that some of the respondents are not citizens of Nigeria and are thus ineligible to cast ballots.
“These things [polls] are on the telephone. Over 90 percent of my supporters don’t even know Twitter. They don’t even know social media,” he said Thursday when he was featured on Channels Television’s election programme The 2023 Verdict.
“If you want to meet them, go to Wuse Market, go to the markets in Kano; go to the market in Sabo, Ibadan, go to markets in Rivers and the roads and so on, and ask people.”
“These [polls] are being sponsored mainly to get donations and give an impression that some of us are not in the race,” he said, warning that such polls may throw the country into trouble if the projected winner fails during the election.
