Expert predicts unpredictable outcome as Nigeria's election campaign draws to a close

Electoral campaign by Nigerian parties will end on February, 23rd.

More than 93 million voters are expected to cast a ballot on February 25 to elect the country’s next president and choose their representatives in Parliament.

Then on March 11th, they will vote for governorship and State Houses of Assembly. Academic Kabiru Saidu Sufi says polls in Nigeria are unpredictatble.

"One thing with elections in Nigeria is that it's not over until it is over," he exclaims. 

"In the next 14 or 15 days anything can happen to give any of the popular candidates an edge over the others. We have seen what happened in the last two, or three weeks, of course, with the naira redesignation and of course with the fuel crisis, which have been changing the narratives and the way people are predicting the elections."

Impact of crises on voter's choice

Frontrunner candidates seeking to succeed to Muhammadu Buhari have traded accusations over the shortages. 

Some voters already said they'll consider who they vote for in light of the cash crisis.

"For those who are enlightened, we are seeing a new trend of people mixing political parties and mixing ideologies," the professor from the Kano College of Arts and Science explained.

"Going for this candidate at this level and going for another candidate at the other levels. So possibly, we are going to have interesting results that is going to have a mixture of people occupying different positions from different political parties."

As APC party seeks reelection, main opposition party PDP eyes a comeback. Peter Obi of the Labour party could be the troublemaker.

"I think this election is special compared to the last two elections, in the sense that for the first time we are having more than two strong candidates,"

In addition to the cash and fuel crises, security and economy are key issues in the country of more than 200 million citizens.