Nigeria: Peter Obi’s emergence driving voter registration frenzy

Nigeria: Peter Obi’s emergence driving voter registration frenzy

By John Eche

The emergence of the former Governor of Anambra State, Mr Peter Obi on the ballot for the 2023 presidential race in Nigeria is driving a renewed voter registration frenzy, The Difference checks reveal.

Prominent among the new and returning voters who are caught up in the frenzy are young people and Nigerians of Igbo origin.

Already, the development is taking the country by storm and sending jitters down the spines of the older and more established traditional political operators.

Obi who had been elected Governor of Anambra State on the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, had run an administration that was widely credited as being disciplined, transparent and result-oriented.

A businessman of note with an additional reputation for being simple and self-effacing in a country where ‘African Big Men’ strut about with panache, swagger and pomp, Obi had later moved over to the Peoples Democratic Party, but the falure of that party to stick with its constitutionally defined intention to rotate power between the North and South led to his quitting the party weeks ago and opting for the Labour Party which has presently handed him its presidential flag.

The presidential elections to produce a successor to the incumbent, General Muhammadu Buhari, is scheduled to hold in February 2023.

Mr Peter Obi