* More Nigerians follow PDP
* APC claims control of over 40 million members
* Zoning may decide 2023 elections
Much more Nigerians who are on social media appear to be following the activities of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
A Port Harcourt Telegraph Correspondent who visited the official handles of the two leading political parties on Twitter reports that Although the APC is the ruling party, more Nigerians who are likely to translate into voters are apparently showing interest in the PDP.
Whereas the All Progressives Congress, enjoys the support of 520, 000 strong followers on Twitter, PDP has 852, 000 dedicated followers.
This means that the PDP has 332,000 more supporters or followers on Twitter when compared with the ruling party which came to power in 2015.
There is a trend on Facebook which suggests that the PDP is becoming the darling of social media users.
On Facebook, there are 288,995 followers of the official fan page of the Peoples Democratic Party.
Our search for an official fan page of the APC led to a public, APC Nigeria, which has a following of 39,000.
Another public group, APC National Convention, has a followership of 11,000.
The APC which recently concluded its re-registration exercise nationwide is however claiming to be the largest political party in Africa.
The party, relying on statistics gathered by its top analysts from its national re-registration exercise, is saying that it has no less than 40 million members.
Given the wave of defections which hit the two leading parties in the country earlier, the APC obviously emerged with an advantage in the number of public office holders that are on its platform.
The party, statistics obtained from Wikipedia show, has 22 serving state governors in its fold out of 36 elected throughout the country. The PDP has 13 while APGA has one.
On the floor of the National Assembly, the All Progressives Congress has an overwhelming majority as well.
It has a total of 234 elected members on the floor of the House of Representatives.
The PDP which is the leading minority party in the House has 117 members.
The All Progressives Grand Alliance has six, the African Democratic Congress, four while the People’s Redemption Party has one.
In the Senate, the APC averagely has 70 members out of 109 Senatorial seats allowed by the Nigerian Constitution.
Of the 991 State House of Assembly seats across the country, APC has 593 when compared to the PDP.
This is the background as both political parties prepare for the 2023 general elections.
The PDP lost power in the 2015 General Elections to the APC, which was born on February 6, 2013.
But the opposition party appears more stable in comparison to the APC as the clock ticks.
Many Nigerians believe that the choice of presidential candidate and the issue of the zones, that are likely to throw them up in the two leading political parties will have an impact on voter behavior in 2023.
So far, the two political parties have not indicated where power would be zoned, given the rotational principle which has served Nigeria all these years.
There is a growing feeling, now that both parties have decided that the North Central is the zone to pick their national Chairmen from, that the presidency may be headed in the direction of the South.
APC and PDP strategists are seemingly playing a cat and mouse game at the moment.
In the meantime, the fight by the two lead parties to feel the pulse of the social media and possibly control its heart beat goes on.
Somehow, Nigerians are receiving signals through the social media which suggest the lines of the PDP may be falling in pleasant places.