The All Progressives Congress and its candidate, Yahaya Usman, have filed a lawsuit. They are contesting the results of the Federal Capital Territory’s Gwagwalada Area Council chairperson election.
According to Naija News, 338 voting places and 10 wards participated in the election on February 21, 2026.
Usman received 17,788 votes, while Mohammed Kasim of the Peoples Democratic Party received 22,165, according to the Independent National Electoral Commission.
The APC and its candidate petitioned the election tribunal because they were unhappy with the outcome.
The case, designated FCT/ACEPT/EP/02/2026, aims to reverse the PDP candidate’s declaration.
The party and its candidate argued in the appeal that the election did not adhere to the Electoral Act of 2026.Additionally, they contended that the announced winner did not receive the greatest number of legitimate votes and accused unethical acts.
They claimed that a number of anomalies happened throughout the electoral procedure.
They claim that at least six voting places in the wards of Kutunku, Ibwa, Tungan Maje, and Ikwa had their results changed.
They asserted that numbers were altered to conceal instances of overvoting and to match the number of accredited voters.
Additionally, instances of manipulated entries on result sheets were reported in the petition.
It claimed that certain polling places had made adjustments and cancellations, casting doubt on the veracity of the data.
Furthermore, the APC claimed that throughout the collation process, less votes were reported for its candidate in two polling places.
The party additionally asserted that disregard for electoral regulations had an impact on over 100 polling places.
Additionally, it identified eight polling places where officials reportedly altered data by deleting and rewriting results on official records.Voter accreditation was another matter brought up in the petition.
The petitioners claimed that despite officials’ failure to accurately record voters’ information in the register in 71 polling places spread across six wards, the ballots from those locations were still tallied.
Additionally, they found instances of overvoting in 31 polling places, when more votes were cast than were authorized.
They contended that thousands of votes cast in certain regions for both parties ought to be canceled.
The APC estimated that it would receive 16,499 legal votes after subtracting the contested statistics, while the PDP candidate would receive 18,929 votes, resulting in a 2,430-vote discrepancy.
The difference between the two candidates is less than the total number of registered voters in the impacted polling places, according to the petition.
Based on this, the party demanded that the election results be canceled and said that the outcome should not be upheld.
In order to ascertain who truly won the election in accordance with the law, the APC and its candidate have requested that the tribunal nullify the results announced by the electoral board.
Discover more from Headline Hub
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
