APC, PDP, APGA Lead FCT Council Polls As Violence Breaks Out In Gwagwalada Over Inconclusive Polls

All Progressives Congress has won the Bwari Council poll

The final results of yesterday’s chairmanship and councillorship elections in the six Area Councils in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) are still being awaited.

Daily Trust report continues:

The Head, Voters Education Programme of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the FCT, Mrs Ndidi Okafor, said the official results for the councillorship elections would be declared at the ward collation centres, while that of the chairmanship elections would be declared at the INEC Area Council offices in all the six area councils.

However, results gathered at the polling units level by our correspondents showed the candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) trailing one another in keenly contested elections.

In Pegi-Resettlement Estate polling unit of Kuje Area Council, the results of the chairmanship election showed the APC candidate polling 20, APGA 17, PDP 15 and DPC 1with one invalid vote. The councillorship candidates in the same polling unit had: APC 18, APGA 20 and PDP 13 with three invalid votes.

Six chairmen and 62 councillors, who won yesterday’s FCT elections, would be totally announced today.

They will assume office when the tenure of the current chairmen and councilors expires on May 17, 2016.

Security for INEC office

Meanwhile Daily Trust reports that violence has erupted in the Gwagwalada office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) following the declaration of the chairmanship election as inconclusive by the chief collation officer, Adamu Tanimu.

Tanimu said the election became inconclusive following cancellation of two polling units under Ibwa ward, which have a cumulative registered voters of 1881.

He had earlier given the scores of all the four participating parties, where APGA's candidate, Mustapha Adamu (Obama) recorded the highest number of 15, 272 votes.
Closest rival and incumbent chairman, Abubakar Jibrin of APC recorded 14, 546, with PDP having 6,082 votes.

The difference between APGA and APC, according to the collation officer stood at 726 votes.

However, he said, since the total number of cancelled votes has far exceeded the difference between the duo, a run-off election has to be conducted by the electoral umpire.

This prompted the APGA agent, Ibrahim Danbare to challenge the declaration, and immediately ordered for the hundreds of supporters, who spent night singing and dancing outside the INEC office to enter into the building.

And despite the presence of a combined military, police, Civil defence and other security outfits at the gate, the irate supporters overpowered them and made their way into the building.

They started vandalizing cars and glasses, and began chasing everybody within the office with machetes, sticks and other weapons.

They chanted word like "it is impossible", "he (collation officer) won't leave" and other threatening words.