7 biggest winners in Nigerian politics in 2023

Some of these people aren’t just election winners, many of them won big even without having their names on the ballots.

So, as the year wraps up, we provide you with the list of the biggest winners in Nigerian politics in 2023.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is arguably the most talked about Nigerian politician in 2023.

On one hand, most of the discussions about him centred around controversies surrounding his personality and presidential ambition. On the other hand, the controversies drove conversations about his political skills on how he manoeuvred his way from Bourdillon Street in Lagos to the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

Tinubu’s victory in the 2023 presidential election demonstrated his political tenacity to go after the biggest prize despite the numerous roadblocks.

Politics is a game of mischief but how Tinubu weathered the storms to emerge as Nigeria’s 16th President will remain a topic Nigerians will continue to discuss for decades.

Abandoning a mega party for a fringe political party is a move most politicians would not risk, but Peter Obi did it and won many people especially the youth to his side.

Apart from being the face of the party with a huge cult following, the former Governor of Anambra State gave the mega parties — the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) — a serious run for their money.

Obi’s candidacy in the 2023 presidential election birthed a movement largely peopled by young Nigerians who vigorously engaged in the electoral process to see a better Nigeria.

Named after the former governor, the Obidient movement unprecedentedly energised the participation of Nigerian youths in the 2023 election, giving them a sense of belonging in the process and controlling the narrative that pushed their candidate from the bottom rung of the political ladder to become a consequential political entity.

Though Obi lost the election, his biggest win lies in the fact that he inspired young Nigerians to scrutinise and challenge the system from the day he emerged as the presidential candidate of the Labour Party.

In a country where political victory is largely determined by the structure and the economic power of the party a candidate represents, contesting elections on the platforms of fringe political parties is a serious game of luck.

The popularity of candidates counts too, but in the last election, the LP surprisingly produced a governor, Alex Otti in Abia State, and several federal and state lawmakers.

There’s no doubt the goodwill that came with Peter Obi’s candidacy and his Obidient movement rubbed off on these LP candidates, still, they are among the biggest winners because, apart from Otti, almost all other LP candidates contested the election as dark horses.

Nigeria’s democracy is designed to favour whoever is in power. This makes it very difficult for candidates to contest elections against incumbent political officeholders.

But in the last election, the governorship candidate of the PDP in Zamfara State, Dauda Lawal challenged the system and defeated the ruling party and the incumbent governor, Bello Matawalle.

His victory is significant because he was the only governorship candidate who defeated a sitting governor in the March 18 governorship election.

Even without being on the ballot, Wike is adjudged to be one of the biggest winners in the 2023 presidential election.

During the build-up to the 2023 election, Wike enmeshed himself in a serious political battle with the national chairman of his party, Iyorchia Ayu, and Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the party.

As an influential PDP governor, Wike launched a vigorous campaign against his party. He did everything he could to reduce the party to the advantage of the APC.

With the current happenings in Rivers State, if the PDP had won the presidential election, Wike would most likely have become a forgotten politician. Fortunately for him, the APC won and the party rewarded him with a ministerial appointment for working against his party.

Sometimes, when you criticise politicians, you become their permanent enemy. But in Bosun Tijani’s case, his criticisms of the Nigerian political system and his dexterity in the Nigerian tech space shot him into the political limelight.

Like Wike, the 46-year-old techpreneur was not on the ballot, but the 2023 politics conferred a befitting political status on him.

Tijani’s appointment as Nigeria’s Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy is not just a new feather on his cap, it’s also a win for the youth and Nigerians who called for the inclusion of technocrats in President Bola Tinubu’s cabinet.

The 2023 election was a turning point in the political career of Godswill Akpabio. The post-election politics favoured him and elevated his status among his contemporaries.

It would be recalled that Akpabio lost his senatorial election in 2019 and was even mocked by Senator Dino Melaye for the defeat.

But in 2023, the story changed. The former Governor of Akwa Ibom State regained his political influence and crowned it with his emergence as the President of the Senate.