By Mercy Peter
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Christopher Maikalangu, as the duly elected Chairman of Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) following the conclusion of the area council poll.
Announcing the results at the AMAC collation centre, the Council Collation Officer, Prof. Andrew Abue, said Maikalangu secured a total of 40,295 votes to defeat other contestants in the race.
He disclosed that 65,197 votes were cast in the election, out of which 62,861 were valid, while 2,336 ballots were rejected. According to him, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) placed second with 12,109 votes, while the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) came third with 3,398 votes.
Prof. Abue further revealed that AMAC has a total of 837,338 registered voters, with 65,676 voters accredited for the election. Declaring the result, he stated: “Christopher Maikalangu of the APC, having satisfied the requirements of the law and scored the highest number of votes, is hereby declared the winner and returned elected.”
He also noted that 16 political parties participated in the chairmanship contest, with remaining votes distributed among other minor parties.
Party agents representing the APC, ADC, APGA, YPP and NNPP signed the official result sheets at the collation centre, signaling acceptance of the outcome.
Reacting to the declaration, the APC collation agent, Gambo Babale, described both the voting and collation processes as transparent and credible. He congratulated Maikalangu on his re-election and urged him to intensify efforts toward delivering greater dividends of democracy to residents of AMAC.
