The Peoples Democratic Party has secured victory in the Gwagwalada Area Council chairmanship election, with its candidate, Mohammed Kasim, emerging winner in the Federal Capital Territory local government polls.
Official figures released by the Independent National Electoral Commission showed that Kasim polled 22,165 votes to defeat his closest challenger, Yahaya Shehu of the All Progressives Congress, who scored 17,788 votes.
Announcing the outcome in the early hours of Sunday, Returning Officer Philip Akpen described the exercise as peaceful and well organised, saying the results reflected the lawful conduct of the election.
Declaring the winner, Akpen stated that Kasim met all legal requirements and was therefore returned elected as chairman of the council.
Further breakdown of the results indicated that Biko Umar of the All Progressives Grand Alliance came third with 1,687 votes, while other parties recorded lower tallies.
Election data released alongside the announcement showed that Gwagwalada had 207,577 registered voters, with 46,294 accredited to vote during the exercise.
Detailed party scores revealed 43,960 valid votes cast and 1,521 rejected ballots, underscoring the scale of participation in the contest.
The council poll formed part of elections conducted across all six area councils in the Federal Capital Territory, covering both chairmanship and councillorship positions.
