The FB front runners. A sideways look at the 2011 general elections in Nigeria

Part of reclaiming our nation is to analyse those that seek to lead Nigeria in the general election less than a year away. This time we are looking at FB popularity by fan size. The President, Goodluck Jonathan outstrips everyone and this is understandable as he is the most active and holds the highest post in the country. With 140,176 fans when we checked, he leaves his nearest challenger, Governor Fashola of Lagos State in his wake. Fashola's second place is well deserved as he can easily claim to be the highest performer amongst all the governors.

The real battle ground for the hearts of Nigerians is in the middle ground where the trio of Pat Utomi, Nasir El Rufai and Nuhu Ribadu fight to capture the hearts of Nigeria's estimated 1.7 million FB users. Pat leads the way probably for having the vision to engage Nigerians on FB at a time the others were still too busy with EFCC and FCT work to see the benefits. But his popularity is remarkable too as he, unlike the others, has not served in government at the level they have. All three though have been youth activists and have a lot to offer.

The real shocker are the relatively poor showings of Donald Duke and Sullivan Chime who have 11,424 and 1179 Nigerians following them. In Sullivan's case, his annual updates mean there is little to encourage you to keep an eye on his page but Duke is very active on FB and Twitter.

Altogether though, this new era of Nigerian politics is fun and long may it continue.

The Figures:

Goodluck Jonathan - 140,176 fans

FB Page: http://www.facebook.com/jonathangoodluck?ref=ts

Twitter: http://twitter.com/JGoodlucktweets - 144 Followers


Babatunde Fashola - 60,211 fans

FB Page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/BABATUNDE-RAJI-FASHOLA/32609636260?ref=ts

Twitter: http://twitter.com/tundefashola - 303 followers

Pat Utomi - 45,818 fans

FB Page: http://www.facebook.com/Utomi?ref=ts

Twitter: http://twitter.com/utomi2011

Nasir El Rufai - 38,617 fans

FB Page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Nasir-El-Rufai/393816480127?ref=ts

Twitter: http://twitter.com/elrufai - 955 followers

Nuhu Ribadu - 28,578 fans

FB Page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Nuhu-Ribadu/37035137872?ref=ts

Twitter: http://twitter.com/NuhuRibadu - 1,431 followers

Donald Duke - 11,424 fans

FB Page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Donald-Damien-Duke/18568433589?ref=ts

Twitter: http://twitter.com/Donald_Duke - 2,540 followers


Sullivan I Chime - 1,179 fans

FB Page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/SullivanIChime-Governor-Enugu-State-of-Nigeria/66482083614?ref=ts

Twitter: None