Nigeria Presidential Election : Eighteen Candidates For One Seat

Campaigns for Nigeria’s 2023 Presidential election rounded off yesterday throughout the national territory. For more than four months, the eighteen candidates crisscrossed the different constituencies to woo voters through their manifestos and other electoral promises. In some major towns like Abuja, Lagos, Kano and Ibadan, several rallies were organized to present manifestos and convince the undecided voters. Even though most political analysts say the 2023 Presidential election are the country’s most contested since 1999 when the country moved back to the democratic rule, only four major political parties, All Progressives Congress (APC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Labour Party and New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), were visible on the field since the campaigns kicked off on 28 September 2022. Apart from organizing gigantic rallies, the four also dominated in advertisement and news appearances. 
Unlike in the past, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) headed Bola Tinubu and Atiku Abubakar of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) did changed strategies. This time around, they held rallies only in the state capitals. Instead of moving into the nocks and crannies, the two parties elected officials in every state and used their local structures erected around those officials in mobilizing party faithful and supporters from across the wards and local government areas to the rallies grounds. The other two favourite parties, Peter Obi’s Labour Party (LP) and Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), did also devised other means of reaching the voters. One of these was to take the campaigns beyond the state capitals. While Mr Obi held rallies in old provincial headquarters,  Mr Kwankwaso moved across the hinterlands of Northern Nigeria where most of his supporters are said to reside. 
However, the other fourteen candidates though ...