Atiku: FCT Council Polls will Signpost What 2023 will Look Like

•Rallies support for PDP

By Chuks Okocha

Ahead of the council election in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) this Saturday, former Vice President of Nigeria, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has urged residents and members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the nation’s capital to come out en masse and exercise their franchise in the election.

Atiku, in a statement signed by his Media Adviser, Paul Ibe yesterday, said this weekend’s council election should be a referendum on the performance of the incumbent APC administration in the country.

The former Vice President noted that the people of the FCT, with their closeness to the seat of power, represent a good sampling of Nigerians about the current government and, therefore, should use, “their ballot to tell the APC government how its administration has made life difficult for the common man.”

“The records of performance between the PDP and APC administrations should provide a guide for the way the people of the FCT should cast their ballot on Saturday. I expect every member of the PDP to be proud of the party at this election and even mobilise their families and friends to vote for PDP’s candidates across all the FCT councils on Saturday,” Atiku said.

The 2019 presidential candidate of the PDP also called on all officials, including security agents who would be involved in the conduct of the FCT election to ensure that it was conducted in line with all relevant provisions that would make the process hitch-free and credible.

Meanwhile, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), at a stakeholders’ meeting in Abuja, pledged free, fair and credible elections in the February 12 FCT elections.

INEC Chairman, Prof. Yakubu Mahmood, said the commission was going to deploy three National Commissioners and six Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) for the election.

“Our eyes are on all our officials, be they ad hoc or regular staff, to ensure that they strictly abide by the rules. All parties, candidates and their supporters should do the same.

“No one will benefit from the disruption of the process or other acts of bad behaviour. Let the voters in the FCT choose their leaders in a free, fair and peaceful contest,” Yakubu stated.

He reminded political parties and their candidates that voter inducement, including vote-buying at polling units, was a violation of the law, adding that the ban on the use of mobile phones and other photographic devices in the voting cubicles was still in force.

The INEC Chairman disclosed that the commission would deploy, “assistive devices such as Braille ballot guide and magnifying glasses for the physically challenged voters.

“We had several meetings with the security agencies in the area councils, the FCT and the national level on how to address potential threats to the election and secure the election.”

He pledged that the commission would work with the security agencies to ensure that observers and the media were granted unimpeded access to voting and collation locations, and called on the media and observers to operate within the context of the code of conduct for election observation and media coverage.

According to him, sensitive materials to be used in the elections would be delivered to the commission’s FCT office in Garki on Thursday, from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).