FCT polls: PDP wins Kuje, Bwai, APC gets Gwagwalada council
Elections for chairmen and councillors in the six Area Councils of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) concluded, Saturday, as conducted Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) winning in two council areas of Bwari and Kuje, while the All Progressives Congress (APC) clinched Gwagwalada, as so far declared by the electoral body.
The Area Councils in the FCT include; Abaji, Bwari, Gwagwalada, Kuje, Kwali, and Abuja Municipal (AMAC).
The poll was also for 62 councilors.
A total of 473 candidates sponsored by 14 political parties took part in the elections.
In the 2019 elections, APC had won the chairmanship seats in Abaji, Kwali, Gwagwalada, and AMAC while the PDP won in Kuje and Bwari.
Over 1.3 million voters participated in the exercise across 2,229 polling units in the FCT.
INEC had earlier said elections will not hold in 593 polling units as they have no registered voters.
Of the 55 candidates who contested the chairmanship positions, only three are women and only eight females for the vice chairmanship position. Also, there were only 31 females of the total of 363 candidates for councillorship positions.
INEC declared Suleman Sabo of PDP the winner of the Kuje Council Chairmanship Election in the Federal Capital Territory.
In the Kuje poll, the PDP candidate, Sabo, who is also its incumbent chairman will now serve his second term in office, having defeated five other candidates in each of the 10 wards in the area council.
The incumbent chairman gathered a total of 13,301 votes to defeat his closest rival, Sarki Hamidu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who secured 7,694 votes to emerge second.
Meanwhile, the Labour Party (LP) Chairmanship candidate Loveday Ajo secured 79 votes.
The PDP candidate defeated the APC with a total margin of 5,607 votes.
Sule Magaji, the INEC Returning Officer for the Kuje Area Council Election, announced the final results on Sunday morning.
In the Gwagwalada council of the FCT, the candidate of the APC, Jubrin Abubakar, was declared as the Chairman-elect of Gwagwalada Area Council at the Saturday Council elections.
Abubakar, a former chairman of the council, defeated his opponent, Mohammed Kassim of the PDP.
Mr Abubakar polled 11,125 votes and was declared by the INEC Returning Officer, ID Umar as the winner of the keenly contested election.
Kassim of the PDP polled 9,597 votes.
INEC also declared the candidate of the PDP, John Gabaya, as the Chairman-elect of Bwari Area Council in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Mr Gabaya, who was re-elected for a second two-year term, defeated his closest rival, Audi Shekwolo of the ruling APC.
Gabaya polled 13,045 votes, while Shekwolo had 7,697 votes, according to the INEC Returning Officer, Amochi Madu, who announced the result on Sunday morning.
The candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Abubakar Abdullahi, polled 603 votes to come a distant third position.
The FCT elections were held across the 68 wards/constituencies spread across Bwari, Abaji, Gwagwalada, Kuje, Kwali and Abuja Municipal Council (AMAC) area councils of the FCT.
