ABUJA — The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared Christopher Maikalangu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) chairmanship election.
The Collation Officer, Prof. Andrew Abue, announced the results in the early hours of Sunday, confirming that Maikalangu secured 40,295 votes to retain his seat. The African Democratic Congress (ADC) candidate, Moses Paul, finished as the runner-up with 12,109 votes, while the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) trailed significantly with 3,398 votes.
A Victory Overshadowed by Apathy
Despite the APC’s celebrations, the election data paints a stark picture of voter disillusionment. Out of 837,338 registered voters in AMAC, only 65,676 were accredited to vote—a staggering 7.8% turnout.
Analysts and residents have been quick to criticize the process, pointing to several factors that hampered participation:
- Logistical Failures: Many voters expressed outrage over INEC’s last-minute reassignment of polling units, which left thousands unable to locate where to vote.
- Movement Restrictions: Residents slammed the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, for the 22-hour restriction on movement, arguing it felt more like a “siege” than an election day, effectively barring those without vehicles from reaching distant units.
- Security Concerns: The brutal assault on an ADC agent and reports of vote buying further dampened public confidence in the exercise.
Reactions from the Field
While the APC Collation Agent, Gambo Babale, hailed the process as “perfectly transparent,” opposition figures and civic groups have been less complimentary. On social media and at collation centers, Nigerians have questioned the legitimacy of an election where over 90% of the electorate stayed home.
“How can you declare a winner for nearly a million people based on only 40,000 votes?” queried one observer at the AMAC center. “This isn’t a victory for democracy; it’s a victory for voter suppression and technical glitches.”
The Final Tally
The official scores for the top contenders were:
- Christopher Maikalangu (APC): 40,295
- Moses Paul (ADC): 12,109
- Dantani Zanda (PDP): 3,398
- Jibrin Alhassan (NNPP): 1,694
As Maikalangu prepares for his new term, the focus now shifts to whether the opposition will challenge these results in court, citing the violence and logistical chaos that defined the 2026 FCT polls.
