The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has expressed concern over the low turnout recorded in the ongoing Area Council Elections across the FCT.
Wike, who visited several polling units, engaged with electoral officers to assess the situation on the ground.
At one of the polling units in Karshi, the minister encountered a handful of election officials but no voters present.
After exchanging pleasantries, Wike asked: ”How is the turnout?”, to which the ad-hoc official, a member of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), said: ”We have only about 10 percent of registered voters who came out to vote.”
The minister further asked: ”Only 10 percent? When are you supposed to start counting?”
”By 2:30pm, sir,” the corps member responded, to which Wike said: ”Hopefully there will be another 20 percent.”
Earlier, Dr. Moses Paul, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) candidate for Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), attributed the low turnout to the restriction of movement.
He said the turnout was far lower than expected and attributed it to what he described as confusion created by the restriction directive.
According to him, he had lived in AMAC for about 40 years and had never witnessed such a situation, noting that the development appeared like “a state of emergency” over what he considered unwarranted.
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