Nigerian music star Olubankole ‘Banky W’ Wellington, has become the first Nigerian celebrity to win the ticket of one of the two major political parties in the country to run in the 2023 election.

Banky W clinched the ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to run in the 2023 general election as the party’s candidate for Eti-Osa Federal Constituency.

At the party’s House of Representatives primaries held on Monday, May 23, 2022, he polled 28 votes to defeat his rival, who polled three votes.

This is coming barely two months after he announced his decision to run for House of Representatives under the PDP in March 2022.

“Some may not understand or agree with my decision to run or choice of platform. But I’ve learned that we must engage with Nigeria where it is, not where we hope that it should be. We must no longer be content to shout from the sidelines. We must get into the system to fix it, ” he said in his declaration speech.

This isn’t the first time the 41-year-old EME boss is running.

In 2019, despite joining the race a few months to the election under a relatively unknown party – the Modern Democratic Party formed in 2017, Banky W came third in the election won by Babajide Obanikoro of the APC and a son of former Lagos Senator and Minister, Musiliu Obanikoro.

Netng also endorsed him for the election in 2019, describing him as one who has the vision to change the status quo.

Despite his loss in 2019, Banky W remained consistent with his social activism and played a major role in the October 2020 EndSARS protest.

When the military opened fire on protesters on October 20, 2020, he was one of those who first condemned the action, saying,” Every Governor in the Country should ask their Commissioners of Police to tell all officers to stand down. They’re the ones shooting and killing innocent people. Stray bullets taking lives. Why bring live rounds to a peaceful protest? Why?”

He believes that Nigerians should engage politics where it is, not “where we prefer for it to be.”

With his emergence as the candidate of the main opposition party, Banky W will face whoever emerges as the candidate of the ruling APC in the 2023 general election, and pundits believe with his celebrity power and the platform he’s running on, he stands a better chance than 2019.

With APC and PDP making up a staggering 99% of the Nigeria Senate, and about 97% of the Federal House of Reps, both parties are indisputably Nigeria’s two major political parties. This is why many Nigerians believe it comes almost as a disadvantage to anyone running for an election under a relatively unpopular party.

Source: Nigerian Entertainment Today