No fewer than 55 chairmanship candidates and 363 councillorship candidates are contesting the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) election this Saturday.
The FCT election, which is conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will hold in all polling units in the the six Area Councils.
Addressing a press conference on Friday in Abuja, the Executive Director, Centre for Transparency Advocacy (CTA), Ms. Faith Nwadishi said INEC has declared that 14 political parties would be fielding candidates for the slots.
She said as part of CTA’s pre-election observation, there is better coordination amongst the security personnel, saying the police as lead of the security team, has assured of adequate security and coordination across the polling units.
Nwadishi commended the INEC for its preparedness and readiness to conduct the election, saying the distribution of sensitive and non-sensitive materials have been smooth as observed at the FCT INEC office
The Executive Director reminded INEC that the FCT election should be taken seriously just like any other election because its failure or success will count towards its credibility.
She stated: “The FCT elections will hold in polling units throughout the six Area Councils to fill empty seats in 68 constituencies, including six chairmanships and 62 councilorships.
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“In the FCT’s 68 constituencies, 55 candidates are vying for the role of Chairman, while 363 candidates are vying for the position of Councillors. The number of registered voters in the FCT are 1,373,492, while the number of polling units are 2,822, including the newly created 2,260.
“However, INEC has stated that no materials or officials would be deployed to 593 of the newly established polling units because no voters have yet been registered in those areas.”
Nwadishi added that the Centre is accredited to observe the election and has mobilized and deployed 150 observers to various polling units across the six Area Councils in the FCT.
She urged President Mohammadu Buhari to sign the Electoral Act Amendment Bill into law in order to remove most encumbrances towards the 2023 general election.
