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Daniel Nuhu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has won the Kwali Area Council chairmanship election with 17,032 votes.
Mr Nuhu secured victory across a majority of the wards to defeat Haruna Pai of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), who polled 8,575 votes to come second in the election.
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The results were declared by the INEC presiding officer, Olympus EJue, a professor, at Kwali’s final collation centre on Sunday morning.
PREMIUM TIMES reports that elections were held in all ten wards of Kwali on Saturday.
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APC have won four in five. Only Kuje left
The win in Kwali means APC has now won in four of the five area councils, whose results have been announced. Apart from Kwali, APC also won in AMAC and Bwari area councils, while the PDP won in Gwagwalada.
The Kwali Contest
Nine candidates cleared by INEC contested the Kwali Area Council chairmanship election held on Saturday, four years after the last council poll in 2022.
They include Mr Nuhu of the APC, Haruna Pai of the PDP, Bandoji Jeremiah of the ADC, Agada Ojonugwa of the ADP, Yakubu Dogara of the APGA, and Umar Yakubu of the APM.
Others are: Kari Hassa of the NNPP; Obiako Patrick of the Action Alliance; and Oniono Israel of AA.
Among the over 30,000 votes counted.
The APC secured the majority of the votes, while the PDP trailed.
The ADP polled 3,225 votes, while the ADC secured 1,073.
APGA recorded 47 votes, A 37, NNPP 28, AA 23, and APM 18.
Observations across polling units showed the outcome did not come as a surprise. Many voters who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES after voting on Saturday openly declared support for the APC ahead of the final coalition.
Based on the collation keenly observed by this paper, the APC won all 10 wards: Dafa, Kwali Central, Gumbo, Yangoji, Pai, Kilankwa, Kundu, Ashara, Wako, and Yebu.
The PDP did not secure victory in any ward, and no other political party won in the council.
The pattern of results across the wards showed a clear and consistent lead for the APC, which ultimately translated into a wide margin of victory at the council level.
However, the election process is also as important as the outcome, because voters interviewed during the election explained that they participated for various reasons.
Some cited development, believing that whoever wins would bring progress to the area, while others stressed that voting is their civic right.
After voting, 95-year-old Isah urged leaders to focus on community development. “I am voting for the future of my children.”
Similarly, 35-year-old market woman Amina Garuba said she voted to exercise her civic right and to support development in Kwali.
The process that led to APC’s victory
As of 8 a.m. on Saturday, most areas in Kwali were very quiet, in line with the directive that there should be no movement on election day. The polling units’ area was busy with people eager to vote.
There was a particularly high turnout among elderly men and women. Electoral officials appeared well-prepared, guiding voters through accreditation and ballot collection, while party agents closely monitored the processes. Security agents maintained calm.
However, the election was not without challenges.
There were also delays and low turnout in places like Kilankwa ward and LEA primary school, where polling units 027 and 025 had seen little activity by 11 a.m.
In the Kwali Central wards, many voters complained that their names had been shuffled and were challenging to locate.
At the Pai ward, elderly men and women, as well as nursing mothers, endured the sun to vote, as PU 001 and 006 were crowded around noon due to a malfunctioning BVAS, which hindered facial and fingerprint verification.
BVAS issues were less pronounced in semi-urban areas like Kwali, Kilankwa, and Dafa, but Yebu ward, according to a collation officer, experienced the worst BVAS network problems.
In Dafa ward, however, a presiding officer, Sadiq Abdulrazaq Yusuf, whom PREMIUM TIMES interviewed at Dafa primary school, lamented that villagers protested discrepancies in the register at PU 011 in Fuka community, Dafa Ward, and refused to vote.
Mr Yusuf said, “They got angry and said that they will not vote.” INEC officials “received threats to be careful” and left by 11 a.m. for security.
Vote buying occurred in Yangoji and Kilankwa wards, though it was discreet. Individuals suspected to be APC and PDP members wrote voters’ names on sheets, suggesting they might receive cash later.
Some women in Kilankwa told our reporter that they would not vote until they received money, arguing that winners would ultimately do nothing after the elections.
Though it appeared to be a high voter turnout, election figures show that participation fell below expectations. There were over 80,000 registered voters in the Kwali Area Council, yet only over 30,000 votes were cast on Saturday.
Violence disrupts collation at Ashara ward.
Tension erupted at Ashara Ward during the FCT Area Council elections on Saturday following a violent attack on electoral officials.
An INEC officer said the incident at Ashara ward happened between 4 and 5 p.m. on Saturday as votes were almost fully counted.
“Surprisingly, some groups of armed thugs invaded the ward with cutlasses and big sticks,” said one officer who was among those attacked and injured.
“They beat us to stupor, confiscated voting materials, including ballot papers, and burnt the 18-seater bus that INEC officials brought,” he added. The assailants also assaulted police officers. “Before the military could intervene, the attack ended,” he said.
A collation officer, Mustafa Garba, explained that the ward has 18 polling units, but the attack disrupted voting and collation in eight of them. “Only 12 results were later collated,” he said, highlighting the impact on the electoral process.
“We expected the other offices to bring the remaining results. We later heard that about three INEC officials were injured. I am not sure whether anyone was killed. The police did their best to contain the situation, but they couldn’t,” he added.
Despite these setbacks, residents of the Kwali area council demonstrated awareness of their rights and the importance of participating in the election. Perhaps if these challenges had not occurred, parties like the PDP or ADP might have narrowed APC’s margin or posed a stronger challenge.
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