Why I lost to Labour Party

The senator representing the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Philip Aduda, says he lost his re-election bid during the recent elections because people voted based on emotion and not performance.

Mr Aduda, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Senate minority leader, stated this on Thursday during a press briefing in Abuja.

The senator was defeated by Ireti Kingibe of the Labour Party (LP) during the National Assembly election on 25 February.

Mrs Kingibe, a non-indigene of the FCT, polled 202,175 votes to defeat Mr Aduda who got 100,544 votes.

The defeat would end the senator’s 12 year stay in the upper legislative chamber having been first elected in 2011.

Speaking for the first time since the result of the election was announced earlier in the month, Mr Aduda, an FCT indigene, said he was not defeated because he did not perform but because people rode on the “glory of their principals”.

“However, it is unfortunate that some people have allowed their emotions to becloud their judgement of our performance and thereby misleading the public with cheap utterances wrapped with ignorance even when it is clear that some of them are coming to public prominence through the glory of their principals,” the senator said.

Challenging the process in court

Mr Aduda also hinted that he may approach the court to seek redress on the process of the election.

“Though the 2023 senatorial elections came with its challenges and concerns that we hope to address legally, we strongly believe that with your continuous support and prayers for a better FCT under our leadership, we will come out stronger,” he said.

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FCT is marginalised

Mr Aduda also raised concerns about the status of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and called for the territory to be treated like a state.

He lamented that while people in other states will get the opportunity to elect sub-national leaders on Saturday, the territory is left out.

“While other Nigerians will be going to their respective states on Saturday to elect their governors and state houses of assembly members, the FCT people will be at home watching them.

“This wouldn’t have been so if the federal government had yielded to calls for the democratisation and second-tier government for the people of the FCT,” he said.

He also disclosed that his colleagues in the senate rejected the Mayor for the FCT bill. According to the senator, if the bill had passed, it would have given FCT the same administrative status as New York City in the US and London in the UK.