The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has declared the candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC) the winners of Saturday’s chairmanship elections in three area councils of Abuja.

But the commission declared the polls in Kuje and Bwari area councils inconclusive. There are six area councils in the Federal Capital Territory.

In the Gwagwalada Area Council chairmanship race, Adamu Danze of the APC was declared the winner.

Earlier on Sunday, INEC also declared Abdullahi Adamu of the same party as the winner of the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) chairmanship election.

The INEC Returning Officer, Ahmed Shittu, who announced the result for the Gwagwalada Area Council, said Mr Danze, the incumbent chairman, scored the highest votes of 21,960, to defeat his closest rival Abubakar Giri, of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) who scored 14,105.

The returning officer said that 10 political parties contested for the chairmanship position in the area council.
“Adamu Danze of the APC having satisfied the requirements of the law and having the highest number of votes is hereby declared the winner and is returned elected,” he said.

In Abaji, INEC declared the APC candidate, Abdulrahman Ajiya, as the winner of the Abaji Area Council chairmanship race.

The INEC Returning Officer, Simon Malaka, who announced the result, said Mr Ajiya, the incumbent chairman, scored the highest votes of 13,442 to defeat his closest rival, Muhammad Ashafa of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who polled 10,473 votes.

“Abdulraman Ajiya of the APC having satisfied the requirements of the law and having the highest number of votes is hereby declared the winner and is returned elected,” Mr Malaka said.
But INEC declared the Kuje Area Council chairmanship and councillorship elections inconclusive.

INEC’s Returning Officer for the council, Zainab Gbefwi, told journalists that the elections were declared inconclusive due to electoral violence in Rubochi.

Mrs Gbefwi said that because of the violence, the elections in Rubochi ward and some polling units in Kwaku and Kabi where Card Readers were not fully used had to be cancelled.

She added that INEC materials were destroyed and some ad hoc staff injured in the course of the violence that occurred.

“At the end of collation, there was no clear winner because the candidate that had the majority votes had one-quarter of two-thirds of the votes cast.

“But the difference between the candidate with the majority votes and the next candidate is very small as compared to the number of registered voters and votes cancelled,” she said.

The returning officer said that re-run elections would be organised in Kabi, Kasa, and other polling units as a result of over voting.

She said that the date for the re-run would be announced later after consultations with the FCT Resident Electoral Officer.

It was a similar case in Bwari Area Council where the Returning Officer, Wesley Nafarda, declared the elections inconclusive due hitches at some polling units.

Mr Nafarda said this during the collation of results at Bwari on Sunday.

He added that 17 polling units including all the 12 units at Kawu ward were cancelled.

Others cancelled are two units at Dakwa and Public Place, in Kubwa ward, one unit at Gidan Bawa under Dutsen Alhaji ward, one unit which is at Primary School in Igu ward while the last one is still pending.

According to him, the total number of registered voters are 224,737; accredited voters 44250; valid votes 42,291; rejected votes 1,137 and total cast are 42,428.

Mr Nafarda said the difference between the highest scorer was 5,997, which made the election inconclusive.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that PDP scored 22,711 while APC scored 16,714.

The Returning officer attributed the case of Kawu ward which had all the 12 polling units cancelled as thuggery.

He said after the results were collated, thugs appeared and destroyed the result sheets and other voting materials.

He assured the public that a new date would be announced for another election at the various affected units.