RESIDENTS of the Federal Capital Territory are currently voting to elect chairmen and councillors that will oversee the six area councils that made up the FCT. The area councils include Abaji, Bwari, Gwagwalada, Kuje, Kwali and Abuja Municipal (AMAC).
At the end of the election, six chairmen and six vice chairmen are expected to emerge along with a total of 62 councillors for the six councils.
According to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), vying for these positions are over 400 candidates drawn from 14 political parties, with the dominant parties being the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Fifty-five candidates are vying for chairmanship positions, out of which three are women and eight females for the vice chairmanship position. Of the total 363 candidates for councillorship positions, there are only 31 females.
The APC and PDP had in the 2019 elections dominated in the FCT with the APC taking the chairmanship seats in Abaji, Kwali, Gwagwalada and AMAC area councils while the PDP won in Kuje and Bwari area councils.
Over 1.3 million voters are expected to vote across 2,229 polling units in the FCT said INEC which also revealed that elections will not hold in 593 polling units said to have no registered voters. According to INEC, no materials were produced for these polling units and no personnel would be deployed to them.
