The Independent National Electoral Commission has declared Christopher Maikalangu of the All Progressives Congress winner of the Abuja Municipal Area Council chairmanship election, returning the incumbent to office by a wide margin.
Collation officer Andrew Abue announced that Maikalangu secured 40,295 votes out of 62,861 valid votes cast, comfortably outpacing his closest rival, Paul Ogidi of the African Democratic Congress, who garnered 12,109 votes. The Peoples Democratic Party’s Dantani Zanda finished a distant third with 3,398 votes.
A total of 65,197 votes were cast across the 12-party contest, including 2,336 rejected ballots. The exercise drew 65,676 accredited voters from a registered pool of 837,338, reflecting a low turnout rate.
“Maikalangu of the APC, having satisfied the requirements of the law, is hereby declared the winner and returned elected,” Abue formally announced.
Among the remaining candidates, the Social Democratic Party’s Simon Obinna received 2,185 votes, while the New Nigeria Peoples Party’s Jibrin Alhassan polled 1,694. The All Progressives Grand Alliance’s Eze Chukwu came in with 1,111 votes. Other contestants, including candidates from the Accord, Action Alliance, Action Democratic Party, Allied Peoples Movement, Action Peoples Party, Boot Party, National Rescue Movement, Peoples Redemption Party, Young Progressives Party, and Zenith Labour Party, each received fewer than 500 votes.
Speaking after the results were declared, APC collation agent Gambo Babale praised the conduct of the exercise, saying INEC demonstrated a commendable level of transparency throughout the process — citing even the PDP’s victory in two ward councillorship seats in Karu and Karishi as evidence of the election’s credibility. He added that the outcome signaled the APC’s confidence heading into the 2027 general elections.
The YPP ward collation agent, Abdullahi Ibrahim, echoed similar sentiments, also commending the transparency of the collation process. Result sheets were signed by agents from the ADC, APC, APGA, YPP, and NNPP.
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