Manny Ita –
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has emerged as the dominant party in the just concluded area council elections in Abuja, securing five of the six chairmanship seats across the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Reporters deployed across the six area councils—Abaji, Bwari, Gwagwalada, Kwali, Kuje and the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC)—observed that five councils have 10 wards each, while AMAC has 12. A total of 637 candidates from 17 political parties contested for 68 positions comprising 62 councillorship seats and six chairperson seats. Of the 1,680,315 registered voters, 1,587,025 had collected their Permanent Voter Cards and were eligible to vote. Polls were conducted across 2,822 polling units using 4,345 Bimodal Voter Accreditation System machines.
The ruling party came close to a complete sweep of the chairmanship positions, although results for councillorship seats were not fully available at the time of reporting. However, the emerging pattern suggested a similar advantage for the APC across the councils.
Official results declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) show that the APC won in Abaji, Kwali, Bwari, AMAC and Kuje, while the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) secured victory in Gwagwalada.
In Abaji Area Council, incumbent chairman Abubakar Abdullahi of the APC was re-elected after polling 15,535 votes, defeating candidates of the Young Progressives Party and the PDP, who scored 5,357 and 4,547 votes respectively.
The APC also recorded a decisive victory in Kwali Area Council, where its candidate Daniel Nuhu secured 17,032 votes, defeating PDP’s Haruna Pai, who polled 8,575 votes. The results indicated that the APC won all wards in the council.
In Bwari Area Council, Joshua Ishaku of the APC won the chairmanship seat with 18,466 votes, defeating his PDP rival and other candidates in what observers described as a competitive but orderly election.
The party retained control of AMAC, the most populous and politically strategic council in the territory. Christopher Maikalangu of the APC was declared winner, returning for another term after defeating candidates from rival parties. AMAC, which includes the city centre and several densely populated districts, is widely regarded as a political barometer for the FCT.
In Kuje Area Council, the APC’s Danjuma Samuel polled 17,269 votes to defeat the PDP candidate by a margin of more than 1,400 votes.
The PDP prevented a total sweep by winning in Gwagwalada, where its candidate Mohammed Kasim secured 22,165 votes against the APC’s Yahaya Shehu, who scored 17,788 votes.
The outcome of the elections signals a clear grassroots advantage for the APC within the FCT and strengthens its position ahead of future political contests in the territory. For the PDP, the Gwagwalada victory provides a foothold in the capital’s local political landscape.
The elections were conducted amid tight security across the six councils. Observers, however, reported irregularities including logistical lapses, low voter turnout and isolated cases of vote-buying.
Yiaga Africa, an election monitoring group that deployed observers across the 62 wards, acknowledged that the polls were largely peaceful but noted generally low participation. The group said logistical challenges delayed the commencement of voting in several areas, particularly in AMAC, where late deployment of personnel and materials affected polling units in locations such as Wuse and Gwarinpa.
It also reported missing election materials and the reassignment of some voters to newly created polling units without adequate notification, resulting in overcrowding in certain locations. Despite the heavy security presence, observers recorded isolated incidents of vote buying and early closure of voting in some areas.
