Vice President Yemi Osinbajo came top in the survey by the Intellectual Forum on Politics and Governance, as the preferred candidate to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023.
A report by The PUNCH said the survey, which was carried out in February, asked Nigerians to choose their favourite from among Osinbajo; national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu; former governor of Kano State, Rabiu Kwankwaso, and former Vice President Abubakar Atiku.
The poll showed that Osinbajo emerged as the favourite by polling 42.50 per cent, almost twice as much as 25.51 per cent polled by second place Atiku.
Kwankwaso came third with 18.07 per cent while 13.92 per cent of respondents selected Tinubu as their preferred presidential hopeful.
The vice president emerged as the leading candidate in all the geopolitical zones, and also the preferred aspirant by both males and females as shown in the result of the survey.
“Prof Yemi Osinbajo was clearly the preferred candidate for both males and females nationally, with 41.29 per cent of males selecting him as their choice and 46.38 per cent of females selecting him.
“This can be compared with 15.16 per cent of the male gender selecting Bola Tinubu and 9.95% of the female gender selecting Bola Tinubu as their preferred candidate for president,” the group was quoted as saying through a statement by the Deputy Chairman, Prof Nasiru Yauri; Organising Secretary, Prof. Yahaya Baba; and Member, South East, Prof Ike E. Ogba.
