FCT Councils Poll: Voting begins peacefully

Registered voters in Abuja have commenced voting for chairmanship and councilorship candidates of their choices across various polling units of the six area councils of the Federal Capital Territory.

Statistics from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) indicate that 14 political parties and 472 candidates are currently participating in the election.

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Our reporters who went round various polling units across the six area councils have all reported delays, as the election commenced peacefully around 10:00am against the official time of 8:00am.

In Kuje area council, our correpondent visited Angwan Manko polling unit, Mekano polling unit and Hassan Wanzam polling unit.

Daily Trust gathered that, at Angwan Manko, the election started around 10:10am but there was an issue of faulty Bimodal Voter Accreditation Device (BVAD) capturing of faces and fingerprints of voters.

Some of the INEC officials at the affected polling units said they had reported the matter to the INEC office and some technicians were on their way to rectify it for the voting to continue.

There were also such BVAD malfunction issues at Angwan Manko, Angwan Liman and Angwan Wanzam.

In the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), our correspondent who was at Gwarimpa Primary school said the election began around 9:30am.

He said there were voters apathy and voters confusion on the newly created polling units but the election is peaciful.

In some of the polling units, not a single voter turned out for the election and he noticed less than 10 voters in some places.

In Bwari Area Council, our reporter said there was no hitches in the areas visited, and the election also commenced at 10:00am.

Eection at Kubwa phase II, site II, was peaciful and the turnout was encouraging.

By Hamisu Kabir Matazu, Abubakar Sadiq Isah, Adamu Umar & Dalhatu Liman