The All Progressives Congress (APC) has solidified its grip on the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officially declared the incumbent chairman, Christopher Maikalangu, the winner of the recently concluded chairmanship election.
The announcement, delivered by the AMAC collation officer, Andrew Abue, confirms that Maikalangu successfully defended his seat by securing a commanding majority of the ballots cast in the Federal Capital Territory’s primary municipal hub.
According to the official figures released by the commission, Maikalangu amassed 40,295 votes, a total that far outpaced his closest rivals.
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) emerged as the runner-up in the contest, with its candidate, Paul Ogidi, garnering 12,109 votes, while the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Dantani Zanda, trailed significantly behind with a total of 3,398 votes.
Other participants in the multi-party race included the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), which earned 1,694 votes, and the Social Democratic Party (SDP), which saw 2,185 ballots cast in its favor.
The statistical breakdown of the exercise revealed a total of 65,197 votes cast, out of which 62,861 were deemed valid and 2,336 were rejected. Despite the high stakes of the municipal leadership, the data highlighted a notable gap in voter participation; while the council boasts a massive registry of 837,338 voters, only 65,676 individuals were accredited for the exercise.
Following the verification of these figures, Abue formally returned Maikalangu as elected, noting that the APC candidate had satisfied all legal requirements for victory.
In the aftermath of the declaration, representatives from various political interests offered their perspectives on the integrity of the process. Gambo Babale, the APC collation agent, lauded the electoral umpire for maintaining a high standard of transparency throughout the polling and collation phases.
He pointed to the fact that the PDP managed to secure councillor seats in the Karu and Karishi wards as evidence of a fair playing field, suggesting that the results reflect a credible democratic exercise.
Babale framed the victory as a mandate for Maikalangu to continue his developmental agenda and a precursor to the party’s ambitions for the 2027 general elections.
Support for the legitimacy of the outcome was not limited to the winning party, as Abdullahi Ibrahim, the ward collation agent for the Young Progressives Party (YPP), also congratulated the winner and praised the transparent nature of the collation.
The finality of the process was underscored by the formal signing of the result sheets by agents representing the ADC, APC, APGA, YPP, and NNPP, signaling a broad consensus on the accuracy of the count.
