Sumner Sambo, Director of News and Political Editor of Arise News, has outlined the reasons why the African Democratic Congress (ADC) could not win the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) election.

According to reports, the All Progressives Congress, or APC, won five of the six area council chairmanships in the FCT.

These are the recently elected chairmen:

Bwari: With 18,466 votes, Joshua Ishaku (APC) was elected chairman.

Chris Garki (APC), Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC)

Gwagwalada: PDP Kasim Mohammed

Kuje: Shekwolo Samuel Danjuma (APC)

Kwali: Daniel Kwali Nuhu (APC)

Abaji: Abdullahi Umar Abubakar (APC)

With just Gwagwalada Area Council going to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, or PDP, the elections confirmed the APC’s hegemony in the FCT and left the ADC with nothing.

Speaking on Arise News, Sambo stated that the party’s prospects may have been impacted by the ADC chairmanship and vice chairmanship candidates’ lack of indigenous ancestry.

“After that, it was more of a Christian, Christian ticket,” he stated. Thus, that might have in some way infuriated individuals to cast their votes in the manner that they did,” he continued.

Now critically examine the results of the presidential election that have been released from the FCT since 2011. Goodluck Jonathan won the FCT election in 2011 and again in 2015. Despite his national victory in 2019, Buhari lost. Voters in the Federal Capital Territory would then switch to a third political party in 2023—the Labour Party—instead of the PDP or the APC.

As you can see, there is a trend of voters choosing the Labor Party in the FCT in 2023, similar to how they did in the presidential election. The PDP won the National Assembly elections in 2011, 2015, and 2019.

The same holds true for the seat in the House of Representatives. Furthermore, these two individuals are not native to the area.

Let’s now discuss why the ADC would not have won the AMAC election. Because the Presidency is located there, the Abuja Municipal Area Council serves as both the administrative center of the Federal Capital Territory and Nigeria. It has settlements that are attached to it because it is a cosmopolitan area.

Now, the ADC did not campaign in many of these villages. The ADC was still in its infancy, thus they were unable to reach the roughly 49 villages that separate our regions.