Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, the People’s Trust (PT) presidential candidate, has overtaken Atiku Abubakar of the PDP in the weekly Facebook rating of presidential candidates.
In the data released yesterday in Abuja, Olawepo-Hashim recorded Facebook engagements of 28,000+ while Abubakar had 24,000+. President Muhammadu Buhari, the APC candidate in the scheduled February 16, 2019 poll, recorded 16,000+ engagements.
Kingsley Moghalu, Fela Durotoye and the other presidential candidates were trailing far below with single digit ratings.
Last week’s data saw the PT’s candidate overtake President Buhari. Atiku was trailing President Buhari two weeks ago but displaced the president in last week’s data with Olawepo-Hashim in hot pursuit.
In the last three weeks, the PT’s candidate had moved from third position to second and now to first based on engagement figures generated from the direct campaign handles of the three candidates.
Data analysts involved in the polling project said that the data on each of the candidates’ were realistic because “Facebook represents the broad spectrum of voters who will vote in the February poll.”
According to Segun Seriki, the lead analyst for the project, Olawepo-Hashim is no longer part of the pack of third party candidates. He has moved ahead to emerge as a real alternative to both Buhari and Atiku. This is a game changer from data perspective.”
