ADC’s Moses Paul wins in his polling unit amid low turnout in FCT polls
By Ishaya Ibrahim
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) chairmanship candidate for Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), Dr. Moses Paul, popularly known as Dr. Mo, has won in his own polling unit, where voter turnout was extremely low.
At Polling Unit 076, Sani Abacha Estate, Wuse Zone 4 (where Dr. Paul cast his vote), only 10 ballots were cast. Results showed ADC securing seven votes, APC receiving two, and one ballot declared invalid.
The FCT Area Council elections were marred by widespread low voter turnout.
Omoyele Sowore, the 2023 presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), attributed the poor turnout to a lack of confidence stemming from the Electoral Act Amendment Bill signed into law by President Bola Tinubu.
Speaking at Polling Unit 001, LEA Primary School, Kabusa, AMAC, Sowore said: “What we have discovered is that more and more of our people are no longer voting, and I think it was made adverse by the newly signed electoral law, which doesn’t give transparency the oxygen it needs because democracy needs one oxygen, that’s trust.”
He added: “The moment trust is lost, people stay at home because there is nothing more voluntary than voting – you take your money, you take your time, and if you feel like the thing is not going to produce the results you want, you don’t leave your house.”
Sowore noted that his party had foreseen the low turnout and lack of interest, having warned against the handling of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill by the National Assembly.
“And that’s what we were warning them when they were signing their electoral law that is not about activists, it’s about the future of the country. If you want people to have faith in democracy, you must give them what they ask for, and that is democracy,” he stated. “But I am going around today because this is one of my communities, Kabusa.”
However, Sowore emphasized that the FCT elections are not the main focus for Nigerians. “This is not the election that is going to be the most important; it’s 2027, that is going to be the real election, and you must arm yourself, not with weapons, but with knowledge, intellect, and commitment, and conviction to change the course of history in this country,” he added.
