APC trounces ADC
The All Progressive Congress (APC), has dealt a severe blow to the fledgling African Democratic Congress (ADC) in the much anticipated council elections in the Federal Capital Territory, held last
The All Progressive Congress (APC), has dealt a severe blow to the fledgling African Democratic Congress (ADC) in the much anticipated council elections in the Federal Capital Territory, held last Saturday. The party of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu (PBAT), swept the boastful ADC, into the political wilderness, despite the noisy merchandising of its leaders. In the run up to the election, former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, former presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, former governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, and former governor of Osun State, Rauf Aregbesola, had sold a dummy that the ADC was the party to beat.
They had earlier campaigned vigorously for the amendment of section 60(5) of the 2022 Electoral Act. They boasted that the ADC would sweep the FCT elections as a prelude to the national election once there is real time electronic transfer of votes. The gullible believed them, but they have shown their party’s unprepared for the elections. On a national radio station, one of the protesters for real time transmission was calling on the presenters to mobilize food for the protesters as they were on a national assignment.
But the results of the council elections in the FCT, Kano and Rivers, show that the ADC may indeed be an empty vessel. When I was in primary school in St. Patrick’s Ogwofia Owa, Ezeagu, LGA, Enugu State, one of the earliest English proverbs we throw at each other was: “that empty vessels make the loudest noise”. Interestingly, unlike state local council elections, the FCT council elections are conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). So, the elections are not afflicted by the sweepstake associated with elections conducted by state electoral commissions.
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Section 98(1) of the Electoral Act, 2022, which was not amended in the new act, provides: “The conduct of elections into the offices of the chairman, vice chairman and a member of an area council and the recall of a member of an area council shall be under the direction and supervision of the commission in accordance with the provisions of this Act.” And so far, nobody has claimed that the elections were rigged. All that is in the public domain is that there was low voter turnout.
The result released shows that APC won in five area councils, while the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) won in one. APC won in Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), Bwari, Kwali, Abaji and Kuje, while PDP won in Gwagwalada. In AMAC, Christopher Maikalangu won with 40,295 out of the 62,861 valid votes. The ADC which came second, had 12,109 votes and the third, the PDP, polled 3,398 votes. In Bwari, Joshua Ishaku of APC, won with 18,466 votes.
The APC also won in Abaji Area Council, with Umar Abdullahi Abubakar polling 15,535 votes to defeat his closest rival from Young Peoples Party (YPP), who got 5,357 votes. In that council, PDP got 4,547votes, and the ADC came fifth, polling 37 votes. In Kwali Area Council, Daniel Nuhu, of the APC won the chairmanship election, with 17,032 votes. The second, Gauna Pai of PDP, polled 8,575 votes.
Despite the internal afflictions of the PDP, her chairmanship candidate, Mohammed Kasim, won the Gwagwalada Area Council. He polled 22,165 votes to defeat Yahaya Shehu, of APC, who got 17,788 votes, while the ADC, got 128 votes. In the Kuje Council election, the APC won with 17,269 votes, while the PDP, which came second, polled 15,824 votes. The ADC trailed a distant fourth with 716 votes. As at the time of writing, the ADC was still too shell-shocked to issue a formal reaction to the polls.
In the Kano Municipal, and Unogo state constituencies, the ADC and other opposition parties boycotted the polls. The results in Ahoada East (II) shows APC winning with 3,980 votes, while the second, the APN got a mere 38 votes. In Khana (II) APC polled 7,647 to win the election, while Zenith Labour Party, which came second, polled 47 votes. Clearly, the results should embarrass the loquacious leaders of the ADC which gave the impression that it has become the number one opposition party.
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From the foregoing result, ADC is indeed an empty vessel, which makes the loudest noise. It would appear that their leaders’ recent effort to truncate the amendment of the Electoral Act, in the National Assembly on basis of the controversies over the mode of transmission of election results was a red herring. Except for the unprepared, Section 60 of the Electoral Act, 2022, made elaborate provision for the sanctity of the election. Section 60(1) provides: “The presiding officer shall, after counting the votes at the polling unit, enter the votes scored by each candidate in a form to be prescribed by the commission as the case may be.”
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Section 60(2) provides “The form shall be signed and stamped by the presiding officer and counter-signed by the candidates or their agents where available at the polling unit”, while subsection (3) provides: “The presiding officer shall give to the polling agents and the police officer where available a copy each of the completed forms after it has been duly signed and provided under subsection 2.” On its part, subsection 4 provides: “The presiding officer shall count and announce the results at the polling unit” while subsection 5 provides: “The presiding officer shall transfer the results including total number of accredited voters and the results of the ballot in a manner as prescribed by the commission.”
The provisions were touted as revolutionary when it was promulgated in 2022. The fact is that any serious political party should have agents at all polling units where the result is to be announced. Now, the National Assembly has provided in the new Act, for online transmission of results to INEC server, and manual collation where technology fails. That is fair, as there are remote parts of the country that may be disenfranchised, if online transmission, is the only way.
Surprisingly, the protagonists refused to appreciate that hackers could access the transmission, and implant a loser as the winner, or even a person who did not participate in the election as the winner. Reports indicate that more than ninety-two per cent of the results of last weekend’s election have been uploaded to the INEC’s Results Election Viewing Porter, (IREV), and yet the noisy ADC has nothing to show. Clearly, the APC is entitled to celebrate its successes in the Federal Capital Territory, Rivers and Kano states.
It is a clear testament that the gains of the hard reforms undertaken by the administration of PBAT though biting, is appreciated by the voters. While the results should tantalize party leaders, they must work hard to manage the outcome of the mergers and acquisitions across the states. Even when a defecting governor assumes the leadership position in his state, he must give a fair share of party posts to those in the trenches in the state before he defected to stem avoidable rancour.
