Published 22nd Mar, 2023

By Tola Owoyele

After Nigerians took to the polls to elect the candidates of their choice on February 25 and March 18, significant voting pattern changes were noticed in the results.

While some of the major political parties recorded victories in some states during the presidential election, they could not achieve the same feat in the gubernatorial election.

During the presidential election, the All Peoples Congress (APC) won in Oyo State with 449, 884 votes. The PDP and the LP came second and third in the same state by polling 182,977 and 99,100 votes respectively.

However, the numbers changed in the governorship election in the same Oyo State, as the PDP won with 563,756 votes. This time, the APC came second with 256,685 votes, while the LP finished a distant fifth with 1,342 votes.

Unlike the presidential election in which the LP recorded a huge feat by winning in 11 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the party was only able to win the governorship election in Abia State.

Below is a table reflecting pattern changes in the recently concluded presidential and governorship elections in all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

As highlighted in the above table, the LP won the 2023 presidential election in Delta, Enugu and Plateau State, but the voting pattern changed at the gubernatorial level, as the PDP won the gubernatorial seats in the three states.

The LP won both the presidential and governorship election in Abia State.

During the presidential election, voting outcomes in Cross River, Ebonyi, Lagos and Nasarawa State went in favour of the LP. However, the APC won in all four states in the governorship election.

The PDP won in Gombe, Kaduna, Katsina, Sokoto and Yobe State during the presidential poll, but the governorship election was not the same, as the APC won in all five states.

At the presidential poll, the APC won in Oyo, Rivers and Zamfara State, but the voting pattern changed at the gubernatorial level, as all three states voted in favour of the PDP.

During both elections, Benue, Borno, Jigawa, Kwara, Niger and Ogun State voted in favour of the APC.

Akwa Ibom, Bauchi and Taraba State also voted in favour of the PDP during the presidential and governorship elections.

The New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) won in both the presidential and governorship elections in Kano State, while the PDP led in the presidential poll in Kebbi and Adamawa State. The governorship elections in the two states have, however, been declared inconclusive by INEC.

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