Issues in the 2023 Nigerian presidential election

The issues in the 2023 Nigerian presidential election are economic, human, and political issues that were discussed prior to and during the general campaign period from the end of the primary period in June 2022 and the final day of campaigning in February 2023.

In the wake of party primaries, several major factors for the upcoming general election campaign were noted, namely: ethnic and religious identity, the role of Buhari and his incumbency power, the economy, corruption, the personal brands of candidates, and public anger with the political status quo.[1] Ahead of the official campaign period, major candidates were to release their policy documents: Abubakar did so in late May but Obi and Tinubu did not unveil their policy documents until after the campaign period commenced in September 2022 with Tinubu releasing his manifesto in mid-October and Obi releasing his manifesto in early December. As the campaign developed, other issues like climate change and sports development rose to prominence.[2][3] However, civil society reports from January 2023 claimed that the majority of campaigning was not based on policy issues as personality politics, identity politics, and negative campaigning overtook policy discussion.[4]

  1. ^ Adio, Waziri. "Factors Likely to Shape the Presidential Poll". ThisDay. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
  2. ^ Mojeed, Abdulkareem (23 February 2023). "NigeriaDecides2023: Climate Change policies of leading presidential candidates unconvincing". Premium Times. Retrieved 25 February 2023.
  3. ^ Alaka, Jide (23 February 2023). "NigeriaDecides2023: How Nigeria's presidential candidates plan to develop sports". Premium Times. Retrieved 25 February 2023.
  4. ^ Moses, Peter (9 January 2023). "Over 60% Of Tinubu, Atiku, Obi's Campaigns Based On Irrelevant Issues – Report". Daily Trust. Retrieved 24 January 2023.