Before last Saturday’s Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Area Council elections, many pundits saw it as a referendum on the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), which controlled most of the territory. The outcome is now known and political parties are left wondering about what might have been. FCT correspondent, LAWRENCE BAJAH, reviews the election.
The last Saturday 12, February 2022 Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Area Council polls has come and gone, but there are striking aspects of the election that stood out and can›t be waved aside.
The election like it has come to be a norm in Nigeria was bedevilled by a general low voter turnout and apathy in the urban areas, as well as confusion over restriction and no restriction of movements caused by conflicting statements the police issued on the eve of the election.
Malfunctioning of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) caused delays in accreditation and voting. In most places, the fingerprints did not authenticate voters and there were lots of complaints on the facial detection. Although INEC personnel reported escalation to technicians, there was a slow response to fixing the problem. This was an issue that hugged the headlines too.
The election was also characterised by vote-buying and selling in some of the polling units and inadequate access and lack of assistive materials for persons with disabilities in most polling units.
The most striking thing about the election is the rise from the ashes of defeat by the PDP to win three out of the six Area Councils in the FCT, leaving the ruling APC with the other three, from zero in 2016 and two in 2019, while the APC is left with three from five in 2016 and four in 2019.
APC won a total of five Area Councils in the FCT in 2016, comprising of AMAC, Abaji, Bwari, Kuje and Kwali, APGA clinched Gwagwalada, leaving PDP with nothing. In 2019 election APC won in Abaji, Kwali, Gwagwalada and AMAC, while the PDP won in Kuje and Bwari area councils.
Though some say that the APC didn›t do bad by winning three area councils, on a closer scrutiny pundits point out that the party was crushed by the PDP, which won 44 councillorship positions, leaving APC with just 18, PDP squared on five all with APC in Abaji, while PDP thrashed the party in the five other area councils, even beating APC 10-0 in Kuje. Judging by the result, some observes assert that the APC is no longer acceptable to the masses in the area.
What is responsible for the decline in the fortunes of APC? Many point accusing fingers at the FCT Honourable Minister, Mallam Muhammad Bello, who they accuse of being unconcerned and detached from the affairs of the party and its growth in the FCT. According to those who belong to this school of thought, they wonder why he flies the flag of the party on his official car but did not do the needful by working for the party as if he is not partisan. As of the time of filling this report, the Minister was yet to congratulate the winners of the election.
However, members of APC give credit to the FCT Minister of State, Dr Ramatu Aliyu for accepting people who decamped from other parties into APC in the FCT, and really campaigning for the party before the elections. But her best was not enough since the party went into the election with series of stories about arbitrarily substitution of candidates and a couple of court cases, with the Supreme Court giving justice to Murtala Karshi ahead Alhasan Gwagwa in AMAC less than 48 hours to the election, while the duo of Abubakar Umar of Abdullah and Mohamed Angulu Loko are still battling at the Supreme court, on who will be will chairman since APC won in Abaji.
Some belong to the school of thought that the APC has outlived its usefulness by failing to tackle insecurity, turning Nigeria into the universal headquarters of hunger and poverty, hence the rejection of the party during last Saturday›s Area Council polls. The party›s 131-member commitee co-chaired by Governors Sule Abdullahi and Umahi of Nasarawa and Ebonyi respectively to oversee the FCT Area Councils election was more of an exercise in futility, since it didn›t help matters.
The victory is a great resurgence in the fortunes of PDP like the new national chairman of PDP, Senator Iyorchia Ayu, claimed that the party’s victory in Saturday’s FCT council polls marked the beginning of the party’s rescue mission in the country on Monday during the inauguration of Bayelsa Media Centre in Yenagoa.
Observers believe that politics is like game theory, where competition takes place; even a day can change things. Going into 2023 elections, pundits say if APC does not improve on its weaknesses, PDP stand a better chance to snatch power from them.
PDP won the cosmopolitan Area Councils, which represents the diversity of Nigeria, but the party will be looking at ways to reconnect with the common masses, since it didn›t win the chairmanship position in Area Councils that are regarded as rural in the form of particularly, Abaji and Kwali. The poll’s outcome has certainly left the two main political parties a lot to think about going into 2023 general election.
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