The Independent National Electoral Commission has officially returned Christopher Maikalangu of the All Progressives Congress as chairman of the Abuja Municipal Area Council following the conclusion of the council polls.
Andrew Abue, the collation officer for AMAC, announced that Maikalangu, who was seeking re-election, secured 40,295 votes to emerge winner of the contest. He polled the highest number of votes out of 62,861 valid ballots recorded in the election.
The African Democratic Congress finished second with 12,109 votes, while the Peoples Democratic Party came third after scoring 3,398 votes.
According to the electoral officer, a total of 65,197 votes were cast, with 2,336 ballots rejected. He added that AMAC has 837,338 registered voters, while 65,676 voters were accredited for the exercise.
Declaring the result, Abue stated that Maikalangu satisfied the legal requirements and was therefore returned elected.
Other parties that participated in the election recorded varying numbers of votes. The Social Democratic Party garnered 2,185 votes, the New Nigeria Peoples Party secured 1,694 votes, while the All Progressives Grand Alliance received 1,111 votes. The Young Progressives Party polled 421 votes, the Accord Party got 403 votes, and the Action Democratic Party scored 588 votes. Smaller parties including the National Rescue Movement, Peoples Redemption Party, Zenith Labour Party, Action Alliance, Allied Peoples Movement, Action Peoples Party and Boot Party recorded lower tallies.
Speaking shortly after the announcement, the APC collation agent, Gambo Babale, described the conduct of the election and the collation process as credible and transparent. He commended INEC officials for what he called a thorough and open process across polling units and ward centres.
Babale noted that the opposition PDP won two ward councillorship seats in Karu and Karishi, which he said reflected the fairness of the exercise. He congratulated Maikalangu and expressed confidence that the victory would translate into continued development for residents of AMAC. He also suggested that the outcome signals positive prospects for the APC ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Similarly, Abdullahi Ibrahim, the YPP ward collation agent, acknowledged the transparency of the collation process and congratulated the declared winner.
Result sheets from the exercise were endorsed by party agents of the ADC, APC, APGA, YPP and NNPP who were present at the collation centre.
