By Chidinma Iroegbu
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has, declared the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) poll free and compliant with electoral requirements as it returned the incumbent chairman, Christopher Maikalangu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), elected.
Announcing the result at the AMAC collation centre in Abuja, the Collation Officer, Andrew Abue, said Maikalangu secured 40,295 votes out of 62,861 valid ballots to win the chairmanship election.
According to INEC, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) finished second with 12,109 votes, while the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) placed third with 3,398 votes in the contest.
Other parties recorded lower figures, including the Social Democratic Party (SDP) with 2,185 votes, the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) with 1,694 votes, and the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) which polled 1,111 votes.
The commission disclosed that 65,676 voters were accredited out of 837,338 registered voters, while 2,336 ballots were rejected, bringing the total votes cast to 65,197.
“Having satisfied the requirements of the law, Christopher Maikalangu of the APC is hereby declared the winner and returned elected,” Abue stated at the collation centre.
Reacting to the outcome, APC collation agent, Gambo Babale, described the exercise as transparent and credible, noting that party representatives monitored the process from polling units to the final collation point. “The fact that the PDP won councillorship seats in some wards shows the level of transparency,” he said.
Similarly, YPP ward collation agent, Abdullahi Ibrahim, commended the conduct of the election and congratulated the winner, while result sheets were signed by agents of the APC, ADC, APGA, YPP and NNPP present at the venue.