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Tag: Abaji

  • APC wins Bwari, Abaji councils

    APC wins Bwari, Abaji councils

    •INEC declares AMAC, Kuje, Gwagwalada polls  inconclusive

    The All Progressives Congress’ (APC’s) chairmanship candidate in Bwari Area Council, Mr. Musa Dikko, has been declared winner of Saturday’s election.

    The Returning Officer, Mr. Abubakar Abba, who announced the result in Bwari yesterday, said Dikko polled 18,066 votes to win the election.

    He said the APC candidate defeated his closest rival, Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP’s) standard-bearer Andrew Gwani, who scored 13,279 votes.

    Other contestants in the election in which 32,662 people voted included Mr. Wada Abdu of the Action Alliance and Kenneth Olabamiji of the Citizens Popular Party (CPP), who polled 93 and 72 votes.

    Abba said the area council had 162,786 registered voters, but only 33,162 were accredited.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that collation of the results started at 12:15am and ended at 8:36am yesterday.

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared chairmanship elections in Kuje Area Council and Abuja Municipal Area Councils conducted on Saturday inconclusive.

    The Returning Officer in Kuje, Mr. Nicholas Belikatu, who declared the exercise inconclusive yesterday, said none of the three candidates leading in the contest met the criteria to be declared winner.

    According to him, a party must win with a simple majority of the votes cast, must score two-third spread across the 10 wards and the number of cancelled votes should not exceed the difference between winner’s votes and runner-up’s.

    “The election results did not meet the three INEC criteria in some polling units.

    “Therefore, the results sheets and other materials will be moved to the INEC office at Area 10 for review, but the chairmanship election remains inconclusive,” Belikatu said.

    He had announced that the APC candidate scored 13,549 votes, PDP, 11, 478 votes and All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), 5, 516 votes.

    Agents of the parties that contested the elections told NAN that they had no problem with the outcome of the exercise.

    They, however, warned that INEC must ensure that elections would be repeated in the affected polling units.

    In Karu, headquarters of AMAC, the Returning Officer, Prof. Sunday Ododo, said the 15,560 cancelled votes were more than the margin between the two leading parties in the contest.

    According to him, while Mr. Abdullahi Halilu of the APC scored 26,602 votes, Mr. Bitrus Tanko of the PDP polled 21,230 votes, giving a margin of 5,372 votes.

    “However, for a winner to emerge, the margin should be in excess of the number of votes cancelled.

    “If you compare the margin between the winning party and the runner-up party, it is lower than the number of voters who could not cast their votes.

    “For this reason, the AMAC chairmanship election is declared inconclusive until election is conducted in the affected pulling units,” Ododo said.

    Ododo, from the University of Maiduguri, said the election was cancelled in 14 polling units, covering six registration areas and affected 15, 360 registered voters.

    The breakdown of the polling units affected, according to him, are one polling unit in Garki with 2,343 registered voters; Gwarinpa, three units with 1,675 registered voters, and one polling unit in Gui, with 2,628 registered voters.

    Others, he said, were three polling units in Karishi, with 653 registered voters; four units in Karu, with 8,044 registered voters, and 17 units in Yanyan with 17 registered voters.

    A breakdown of votes scored by the parties is- Accord Party, 44; AA,14; ACD, 117; APC, 26,602; APGA, 812; CPP, 29.

    Others are DPC, 19 votes; DPP, 33; NPPP, 80; PDP, 21,230; PPA, 191; DDP, 38 and UPP, 21 votes.

    The APC agent, Mr. Sani Bawa, expressed satisfaction about the election process, saying the party was ready for the rerun.

    In Abaji, the incumbent Chairman of Abaji Area Council and PDP candidate, Alhaji Yahaya Garba, alleged that INEC manipulated the process in favour of the APC

    “There is connivance in this election because voters have been denied their franchise in some polling units,” he said.

    However, the APC chairmanship candidate, Abdulrahman Ajiya, hailed the peaceful nature of the election, saying: “The process is credible”.

    In Gwagwalada Area Council, the chairmanship candidate of APGA, Alhaji Mustapha Adamu Denze, scored 15,272 votes, trailed by the incumbent chairman of the council, Alhaji Abubakar Jibrin Giri, who scored 14,546 votes.

    INEC’s Returning Officer in the area, Mr. Adamu Tanimu, declared the election inconclusive, prompting members of APGA to take to the streets to protest. They called for the declaration of Denze as winner.

  • Abaji council chief gets award

    The Chairman of Abaji Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Hon. Yahaya Garba, has received the most ethical responsible local government in the FCT award.

    The Director of Centre for Ethics and Self Value Orientation, Prince Salih Ibrahim, said the centre, which is a non-governmental organisation, conducted an independent investigation on elected representatives, especially area councils chairmen. Hon. Yahaya Garba emerged first position, having viewed critically the impact he made in the council in the last one year.

    Ibrahim: “Our organisation, which is non- partisan, is out to expose corrupt public officers and leaders in the FCT, who, instead of offering services to the people, embezzle public funds and allow their constituents to suffer.”

    Hon. Yahaya Garba, while accepting the award, said it was a challenge for him to provide more services to the people of Abaji. This, he said, is because reward comes with more call for service. He reaffirmed his commitment to work for the benefit of the people.

    Garba further said he dedicated the award to the electorate who gave him the opportunity to serve them as chairman, saying that his administration will not rest until the people of the council have improved standard of living.

  • Health insurance for Abaji residents

    As part of its efforts to provide affordable healthcare delivery for the people, The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Community Based Health Insurance Scheme (CBHIS) has flagged off Health Insurance Scheme at Yaba Community in Abaji Area Council of the FCT.

    While flagging off the health insurance scheme and presentation of health insurance cards to registered residents of the community, the Co-ordinator of the scheme, Dr Grace Aganaba, advised them to avail themselves of the opportunity of the scheme to stay healthy at all times, so that they can contribute to the development of the community and entire council.

    According to Dr Aganaba, the FCT Administration, through the Minister of State, Oloye Olajumoke Akinjide, has recognised the importance of healthcare delivery and therefore mandated that by 2015, every Nigerian must have a health insurance card, adding that it informed CBHIS taking it as a priority to ensure that every resident in communities of the FCT should have the health insurance card.

    “I must commend the motherly role of the FCT Minister of State, Oloye Olajumoke Akinkide, who has never relented in supporting this course, because of the importance she placed on health of people in the rural communities. We believe that, through this health insurance scheme, people in rural communities will live more healthy and improved lifestyle,” she said.

    Mrs Theresa Adah, Programme Officer Community Health, Christian Aid Nigeria, said it has been a common fact that many Nigerians, especially the rural dwellers, lack access to healthcare delivery because of lack of fund, saying that was the reason the community health insurance is the way forward for the people.

    “Whenever any one is sick, he or she can have access to healthcare at a very low cost. Today, we are happy the FCTA has made community-based insurance possible in our communities. We are committed to supporting any organisation that wants to replicate this scheme in any community across the country.

    “So, I urge any one that has not registered to do so and benefit from this affordable healthcare,” she said.

    Hajiya Zenab Mamam, in charge of Yaba Health Centre who explained that the health centre was inaugurated in January last year, said immediately the facility started functioning, most of the ceilings and the roofs started falling off.

    “When it rains, the entire clinic would be flooded. All the patients would stand up and sit on their beds, pending the time the rain stops. We also do not have electricity. When there is emergency in the health centre at night, we use lantern which is not ideal and safe. If we have electricity generating set, it would be better. We need the intervention of the FCTA in this regard,” she said.

  • Abaji counil boss preaches peace

    The chairman of Abaji Area Council in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Hon. Yahaya Garba has called on Christian faithful in the council and across the country to pray for continued peaceful co-existence of Nigerians and use the festive season for sober reflection.

    Garba stated this in his congratulatory message to Christians as they joined the rest of the world to celebrate Christmas which commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ. He also urged that the period should be used for prayers for a united Nigeria.

    He added that as elected representatives; governments at all levels should continue to provide basic necessities of life to better the lots of citizens.

    He also said citizens should reciprocate government’s gesture by living in peace with one another, saying no meaningful development will take place in an atmosphere of rancour.