According to a video of the scene posted by News Central TV, it was observed that the situation became rowdy after party representatives alleged that electoral officials denied them the opportunity to verify figures announced for the councillorship contest, despite allowing a similar verification process for the chairmanship results earlier.
Tension erupted at a ward collation centre in the Garki area of Abuja on Saturday evening as party agents openly confronted officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over the handling of councillorship election results, triggering confusion and heated exchanges during the collation process.
According to a video of the scene posted by News Central TV, it was observed that the situation became rowdy after party representatives alleged that electoral officials denied them the opportunity to verify figures announced for the councillorship contest, despite allowing a similar verification process for the chairmanship results earlier.
It was learned that the party agents had peacefully cross-checked figures relating to the chairmanship race before the announcement was made.
However, tensions rose when the same transparency was allegedly not extended to the councillorship results, which officials reportedly declared without permitting agents to compare the figures with their own records.
The development immediately sparked protests from several party representatives, who accused INEC officials of abandoning due process and undermining transparency in the collation exercise.
One visibly aggrieved party agent challenged the officials during the confrontation, insisting that the figures should be verified before any declaration.
“Sir, we disagree with this final figures. Let’s confirm them with our record. You were there when during the chairmanship, they brought the figures, we checked, so can’t they allow us to do the same for councillorship? They just declare it like that without us checking the figures?” the agent said.
He continued, “We disagree with these figures, let’s check them. Who does that? Let’s see it.”
The incident adds to growing complaints trailing the Area Council elections in the Federal Capital Territory, where allegations of irregularities, procedural disputes and low voter turnout have been reported across several polling locations.
SaharaReporters earlier reported that the All Progressives Congress had so far won three out of the six chairmanship seats in the just-concluded Area Council elections in the Federal Capital Territory, tightening its grip on key councils. There are two more area council chairmanship results yet to be declared.
Results announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) show that the APC cleared the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), Bwari Area Council and Kwali Area Council, while the Peoples Democratic Party secured victory in Gwagwalada Area Council.
In AMAC, APC candidate Christopher Maikalangu polled 40,295 votes to defeat his closest rival from the African Democratic Congress (ADC), who garnered 12,109 votes. The PDP candidate trailed with 3,398 votes.
Maikanlagu is the incumbent chairman of the area council.
Similarly, in Bwari, the APC’s Joshua Ishaku clinched the chairmanship seat with 18,466 votes. The ADC candidate came second with 4,254 votes, while the candidate of the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) secured 3,515 votes
