Moses Paul, the chairmanship candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) for the Abuja Municipal Area Council, has accused All Progressives Congress (APC) of engaging in voter intimidation and large-scale vote buying during Saturday’s Federal Capital Territory council elections.
Gatekeepers News reports that Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) organised the polls across the six area councils of the nation’s capital to elect new chairmen and councillors. While the exercise was largely calm, Paul said several irregularities undermined the credibility of the process in many locations.
Speaking during a post-election interview with WTV, he described the elections as generally peaceful but alleged that his party’s agents were harassed in some areas, while voters were allegedly pressured and induced with money to influence their choices. According to him, these actions discouraged participation and affected the integrity of the polls.
He expressed concern over what he termed alarming voter apathy, revealing that fewer than ten voters turned out at his polling unit. Paul said, “Very high voter apathy in most of the locations. In my polling unit, we were less than 10, even though I won my polling unit. The voter apathy is not too good.”
Paul explained that although areas like Lugbe recorded relatively higher turnout, overall participation remained far below expectations when compared to the number of registered voters. He added that some of his supporters were allegedly attacked, while voters in parts of Orozo were reportedly prevented from exercising their civic rights.
He added, “Of course, in places like Lugbe, we had high voter turnout, but overall, it is still very low when compared to the number of registered votes. It was relatively peaceful even though some of my agents were beaten. In places like Orozo, my people were disenfranchised in some of the villages.”
The politician further accused the ruling party of intimidating voters and engaging in open vote buying, claiming his team recorded video evidence of such incidents across several wards.
He said, “The ruling party was intimidating people. There was a high vote buying across different wards. We had them on videos. All of that criminality contributed to the electioneering process not being as credible as it should be.”
Despite the allegations, Paul expressed confidence in his performance, stating that early results indicated the ADC was leading with what he described as a comfortable margin in several areas. He earlier secured victory at his polling unit 076, Sani Abacha Estate, Wuse Zone 4, where he polled seven votes against the APC candidate’s two.
