Abuja: The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared Christopher Maikalangu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the elected chairman of the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC).
According to News Agency of Nigeria, the Collation Officer for AMAC, Prof. Andrew Abue, announced that Maikalangu, the incumbent AMAC chairman, was returned elected after securing 40,295 votes out of the total valid votes of 62,861 in the election. The African Democratic Congress (ADC) came second with 12,109 votes, while the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) garnered 3,398 votes.
Abue reported that there were 2,336 rejected votes, with a total vote cast of 65,197. He further noted that AMAC had 837,338 registered voters, out of which 65,676 were accredited to vote. “That Maikalangu of the APC, having satisfied the requirements of the law, is hereby declared the winner and is returned elected,” Abue stated.
The scores of the 12 political parties that contested the AMAC chairmanship election include Agbon Vaniah of Accord (A) with 403 votes, Nemiebika Tamunomiesam of Action Alliance (AA) with 108 votes, and Paul Ogidi of African Democratic Congress (ADC) with 12,109 votes. Other candidates included Richard Elizabeth of Action Democratic Party (ADP) with 588 votes, Eze Chukwu of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) with 1,111 votes, and Chukwu Promise of Allied Peoples Movement (APM) with 122 votes.
Additional candidates’ scores were Ugoh Michael of Action Peoples Party (APP) with 32 votes, Thomas Happiness of Boot Party (BP) with 43 votes, Jibrin Alhassan of New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) with 1,694 votes, Samson Usani of National Rescue Movement (NRM) with 73 votes, Dantani Zanda of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with 3,398 votes, Iber Shimakaha of Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) with 90 votes, Simon Obinna of Social Democratic Party (SDP) with 2,185 votes, Madaki Robert of Young Progressives Party (YPP) with 421 votes, and Swani Buba of Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) with 189 votes.
Gambo Babale, the APC Collation Agent, expressed satisfaction with the election and collation process, describing it as credible. “INEC have done so well. We’ve seen the processes across all the polling units, the ward coalition centres, and here at AMAC area council coalition centre. Everything was done perfectly well,” Babale remarked.
Babale also highlighted the transparency of the election, noting that PDP won two ward councillors in Karu and Karishi, underscoring the transparency of the process. He congratulated Maikalangu and emphasized that the victory was an opportunity for the chairman to deliver more dividends of democracy to the people of AMAC. Babale further stated that the results indicated the APC’s readiness for victory in 2025.
Abdullahi Ibrahim, the YPP Ward Collation Agent, also praised the transparency of the collation process and extended his congratulations to the winner.