adsWhen President Bola Tinubu secured 8.79 million votes to win the 2023 presidential election, the figure reflected the outcome of a fiercely competitive national contest involving multiple opposition heavyweights, regional rivalries and voter apathy.
Three years later, Tinubu has now polled nearly 11 million votes, not in a general election, but in the presidential primary of his own party.
The development has triggered intense debate across Nigeria’s political landscape, with supporters projecting it as evidence of the growing strength of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), while critics dismiss it as exaggerated political theatre designed to project inevitability ahead of the 2027 election.
Tinubu defeated a relatively unknown challenger, Stanley Osifo, in the APC direct primary during the weekend, polling 10.99 million votes against Osifo’s 16,503.
The sheer scale of the numbers immediately sparked questions: How did a candidate who won 8.79 million votes nationwide in 2023 suddenly attract nearly 11 million votes from party members alone in 2026?adsads
