2023 Polls and the Differentiation Game – THISDAYLIVE

It is a game as old as electoral politics. All over the world, politicians strive to enhance their chances at the polls by playing a game of contrast: presenting their opponents as the undesirable other and framing themselves as the perfect fit for the contested positions. It is the differentiation game. This game acquires extra salience in electoral contests that are seen as open. We are going to see spirited attempts at differentiation in the 2023 presidential poll.

As mentioned in another piece on this page, the ruling All Progressives Congress and the leading opposition Peoples Democratic Party have been successfully narrativized as not just the old order but also as more or less the same: two rotten peas in the same pod. The two parties reject this label, and labour to show how different they are from each other.

But substantially, both Dr. Okowa and Mr. Abiola were right. If there is indeed a terrible old order that needs to be overthrown, none of the candidates of the four leading parties can fully deny a relationship with it or claim to be completely new. The best they can do is to try to differentiate themselves in comparative, and not absolute, terms.

Obi is still the best positioned of the four to play the differentiation game, and it is not surprising that he is enjoying some bounce. His source of wealth is not in contention. His simplicity as a person and his frugality as a manager of public resources are a rebuke of the grandiosity and profligacy of the political establishment. Also, he is just 62, which is not exactly like mid 40s or early 50s but is a young age relative to the other leading contestants.

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