The poll revealed that Peter Obi could win the election with as many as 41% of the votes cast, ahead of Ahmed Bola Tinu­bu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who is at 31%, and Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), at 20%.
The poll, however, tilts toward the presidential candidate of the APC if the election has a low voter turnout, as has been seen in Nigerian elections in re­cent electoral circles.
“Peter Obi holds a com­fortable lead,” the state­ment read. “In essence, the Stears electoral poll and prediction model affirms that Peter Obi is by far the most popular and desired candidate for the 2023 pres­idential elections.
“Having said that, to get a more realistic prediction of the outcome of the race, we can apply the same high and low turnout scenarios to our model predictions. When we do so, Peter Obi once again emerges trium­phant in the high turnout scenario,” the company revealed.
Like the Nextier Poll, which predicted a run-off election, the Stears poll also sees the possibility of a run-off should all ‘cer­tain voters’ stick to their preferred candidate. Ac­cording to Stears, the most likely scenario would be a run-off between Obi and Tinubu.
Reacting to the series of predictions in favour of Pe­ter Obi, Valentine Ozigbo, the Special Adviser to Pe­ter Obi on Technology and Strategic Alliances, said, “This outcome is not sur­prising to those following developments in our poli­tics. His Excellency Peter Obi is the candidate whose message resonated across all demographics in the country.
“What is this message? A message of hope, unity, peace, love, and shared prosperity.
“Peter Obi’s message speaks to the hearts of Nigerians because despite the vicious and desperate attempts to divide us, at our very core, we all yearn for the same things – the possi­bilities that would become realities if we have a leader who is competent, credible, and compassionate. Peter Obi ticks all these boxes and more.
“Nigerians have decided it is time for a true trans­formation driven by the 3Cs of character, capacity, and competence.
“Nigerians have weighed all the options and decided they will support Peter Obi and Datti Baba-Ahmed, who, through their long years in public life, have displayed these 3Cs. They are the team that will move Nigeria from consumption to production. Enough of the corruption,” Ozigbo added.
When asked for com­ment, Dr. Yunusa Salisu Tanko, the Chief Spokes­person of the Obi-Datti Presidential Campaign Council, said that the cam­paign welcomed the result of the poll, which only af­firms the outcome of all recent pre-election polls beginning from that pub­lished in September 2022 showing Peter Obi with “a solid lead”.
“All the polls can’t be wrong,” Dr. Yunusa de­clared.
“When the ANAP Foun­dation published its poll results in December 2022 and declared a “solid lead” for Peter Obi, the organisa­tion’s founder was vicious­ly attacked by the APC pro­paganda machinery.
“They did the same to the founder of one of Nige­ria’s most-respected policy consulting firms, Nextier, when the organisation re­leased a credible poll show­ing that our candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, one of the most inspirational leaders on the continent, has made inroads into Northern Nigeria and expanded his lead nationwide.
“Today, Stears Data, considered the most-trust­ed source of African data and insights and some­times referred to as “Afri­ca’s Bloomberg,” released its latest poll and called the elections for the Labour Party.
“One wonders what the APC spokesperson would say about this poll. Let’s not forget that ‘Bloomberg’ it­self, the world’s most-trust­ed data company, called the polls for Peter Obi back in September 2022.
“These independent and reputable organisations can’t all be wrong. Nigeri­ans are tired of the lies and Nigeria’s failed status,” the Obi-Datti Campaign Spokesperson added.
Nigeria’s Future Unpredictable If It Fails To Vote Competent President — Obi
Meanwhile, Peter Obi, Labour Party’s (LP) presi­dential candidate, has ex­pressed fear at what may become of the country’s future after the upcoming 2023 poll.
 Less than 24 hours after the release of a national poll showed that Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), had expanded his lead in the race for president, another national survey conducted by Stears has predicted the election of Obi as the next president of Nigeria in the event of the massive turnout.
According to a state­ment released on Tuesday, February 7, 2023, by Stears, an Africa-focused da­ta-driven company found­ed at the London School of Economics, the company said the “Stears electoral poll and prediction model indicates that Peter Obi is Nigeria’s most popular presidential candidate and should win the presidential ticket as long as Nigerians follow through on their stated intent to vote”.
According to the poll, Pe­ter Obi has a good chance of winning the 2023 Nigeri­an presidential election if voter turnout is high.
At a book launch in his honour on Tuesday in Abuja, he noted that “the country’s future would be unpredictable if Nigeri­ans missed the chance to choose a competent pres­ident in the next general election.”
He said that the 2023 gen­eral election “is an existen­tial election” that all elec­torate must be involved in.
He explained that “if we get it wrong, nobody can tell what next. All I know is that I always wish Nige­ria the best and I know you people do”.
He also urged Nigeri­ans to be part of “a new Nigeria” to be ensured by himself and his running mate, Senator Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed.
He further promised to improve the wellbeing of Nigerians if elected the president.
Obi, who was a former governor of Anambra State, urged his support­ers “to show more com­mitment as the election gets near”.
This is as he called for more support “especially these final days to reach the end of this race.”
The book, a compendi­um titled, ‘Peter Obi: Many Voices, One Perspective’, was written by the first female Professor of Mass Communication in Nige­ria and sub-Saharan Afri­ca, Prof. Chinyere Stella Okunna,” as the launch of it was organised by a group of seasoned media profes­sionals in Abuja.
The compendium fea­tured published articles authored by some of the best in the pen profession, as well as opinions by oth­er high-profile commenta­tors