Abuja Poll: PDP Wins 3 Area Councils, APC Wins 3 [FULL RESULTS]
The results of the chairmanship election into the six area councils of the federal capital territory (FCT) held on Saturday have started trickling in.
Newsflash Nigeria reports that elections were held to fill vacancies for 62 councillorship and six chairmanship seats.
According to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), 14 political parties and 472 candidates participated in the polls.
The six area councils where elections were held were Bwari, Abaji, Gwagwalada, Kuje, Kwali and Abuja Municipal Council (AMAC).
Nigeria News: Gunmen kidnap Ex-lawmaker Mayokun in Ekiti road
The results from all six area councils declared by INEC, the Peoples Democratic Party won in three area councils including the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) which hosts Aso Rock while the All Progressives Congress (APC) also won in three area councils.
The PDP won in Bwari, Kuje and AMAC while the APC won in Gwagwalada Kwali and Abaji.
Below are the results.
BWARI
PDP candidate: Shekwogaza Gabaya (13,045 votes)
APC candidate: Audi Shekwolo (7,697 votes)
Amuche Madu, INEC returning/collation officer for Bwari area council, announced the results on Sunday morning.
KUJE
PDP candidate: Suleman Sabo (13,301 votes)
APC candidate: Sarki Amidu (7,694 votes)
Sule Magaji, INEC returning officer for Kuje area council, announced the final results on Sunday morning.
AMAC
PDP candidate: Christopher Zakka (19,302 votes)
APC candidate: Murtala Karshi (13,249 votes)
Sani Saka, INEC returning officer, announced the results on Sunday.
GWAGWALADA
APC candidate: Jubrin Abubakar (11,125 votes)
PDP candidate: Mohammed Kassim (9,597 votes).
Abubakar was declared the winner by ID Umar, INEC returning officer for Gwagwalada area council.
KWALI
APC candidate: Danladi Chiya (7,646 votes)
PDP candidate: Haruna Pai (7,345 votes)
Wesley Daniel, the returning officer in Kwali, declared Chiya the winner of the poll on Sunday.
ABAJI
APC candidate: No candidate (7, 289 votes)
PDP candidate: Yahaya Garba Gawu (4, 062 votes)
Prof Gabriel Mordi, the returning officer in Abaji, declared that the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the chairmanship election in Abaji Area Council of Abuja but but no candidate can be declared winner.
However, due to a legal tussle over who the authentic candidate of the APC is, none of the party’s aspirants will be declared the winner of the election, INEC said.
Gabriel Mordi said it will not be legitimate to declare any of the APC aspirants as the winner of the election.
“We cannot declare a candidate winner in Abaji because the winning party does not have a candidate here, the case is still in court,” he said.
He said a winner will be announced after the Supreme Court decision in the coming weeks.
In the election, the APC scored 7,280 votes to defeat Yahaya Garba of the PDP, who polled 4,063 votes.
A total of 11,522 voters were accredited by the local government for the poll. Out of these, 11,390 were counted as valid votes while 107 were rejected votes.
An APC aspirant, Muhammad Loko, had been declared the winner of April 23, 2021, chairmanship primary in the area
His name was controversially substituted by the APC with that of Umar Abdullahi who was later recognised by INEC as the party’s flag bearer until recently.
Dissatisfied with this, Mr Loko approached an FCT High Court in Gudu district. The court on November 16, 2021, ruled in his favour and sacked Mr Abdullahi.
The latter appealed the ruling. However, the appeal court in January affirmed Mr Loko as the APC chairmanship candidate for the February 12 poll in Abaji.
Mr Abdullahi appealed to the Supreme Court whose ruling on the matter is now being awaited. It is based on this that INEC refused to declare any of the candidates the winner despite the APC’s victory.