FOUR HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-EIGHT candidates drawn from 14 political parties will contest chairmanship and councillorship positions across six local government areas in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) area council elections on February 12.

The six area councils in the FCT are Abaji, Kwali, Bwari, Kuje, Gwagwalada and Abuja Municipal (AMAC).

Political parties that are fielding candidates in the election include Action Democratic Party (ADP), All Progressives Congress (APC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Social Democratic Party (SDP), All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), Allied Peoples Movement (APM), African Action Congress (AAC) and Labour Party (LP).

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Information posted on the website of the Independent National Electoral Commission shows that there are 110 candidates for chairmanship and vice chairmanship positions in the six area councils.

Three hundred and sixty-three candidates are contesting 62 councillorship positions across the six LGAs.

Women under-represented in distribution of candidates by gender

A breakdown of the list of candidates by gender shows there are only three females out of a total of 55 chairmanship candidates involved in the election.

There is only one female vice chairmanship candidate.

Also, there are only 31 females out of the total of 363 candidates for councillorship positions. The rest – 332 – are male.

APC, PDP move to consolidate dominance in FCT

The last area council elections in the FCT took place in 2019 with the All Progressives Congress (APC) winning four chairmanship seats, in Abaji, Kwali, Gwagwalada and AMAC.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won two chairmanship positions – Kuje and Bwari.

The two parties; APC and PDP will be battling to consolidate their dominance in the FCT in the elections.

In a show of intent, both parties set up high-powered campaign teams ahead of the election.

The PDP constituted a 35-member campaign team headed by Benue State governor Samuel Ortom. Oyo State governor Seyi Makinde is secretary of the committee.

APC’s campaign committee, comprising 133 persons, has Ebonyi State governor David Umahi and Nasarawa State governor Abdullahi Sule as joint leaders.

Parties sign peace accord

The political parties involved in the election signed a peace accord on February 8, at the instance of INEC.

At the event, which took place at the Nigerian Air Force Conference Center in Abuja, leaders of the parties pledged to ensure peaceful, credible and hitch-free elections.

INEC Chairman Mahmood Yakubu, at the event, warned against vote buying and all other forms of irregularities during the election.

Yakubu insisted that the ban on use of mobile phones and other photographic devices at voting centres is still in force.

INEC accredited 58 observer groups for the election.

The commission also deployed 2,242 field observers – including 340 journalists from 45 media organisations.

No voting in 593 polling units without registered voters

Election will not take place in 593 polling units in the FCT that are without registered voters.

INEC records show that 1,328 poling units have between 1-50 voters, while 546 others have over 1,000 registered voters.

Yakubu disclosed that election materials were not produced for the polling units that have no registered voters.

No election official will be deployed to the units.

The ICIR will provide a live update of the election on the website and social media handles.