By Awaal Gata and Donald Iorchir
At the weekend, as National Assembly primary elections were conducted across the 36 states in the country, the same was done in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
On Saturday, the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) conducted its House of Representatives primaries for the two constituencies in the Territory.
The elections were held simultaneously in Kwali; for Abuja South Constituency, and Bwari, for AMAC-Bwari Constituency.
In AMAC-Bwari, the incumbent Member, Zaphania Jissalo, emerged victorious.
Jissalo got 89 votes out of the 107 cast to defeat four other contestants, including Ms. Aisha Osori, a columnist and human rights advocate.
The result was announced at about 4pm by the returning officer, Mr. Musa Gambo, who said Ms. Osori polled 14 votes. The two other aspirants recorded no votes, the returning officer announced.
According to him, a total of 111 delegates were registered for the election, but four were absent, leaving 107 to choose their representatives.
Speaking after he was declared winner, Jissalo said his major target would be to ensure that Abuja attains a Mayoral status if he returns to the House of Representatives for the second term.
“My focus in the second term if elected on the 14th of February 2015 by God’s Grace is to look at the many issues in the FCT particularly that of the Mayoral status for Abuja. Secondly, the area councils have not been given adequate attention so, we are going to address the matter squarely”, he said.
For Abuja South, the former Chairman of Kuje Area Council, Danladi Etsu Zhin, won the PDP ticket.
Announcing the result, the Chairman of Electoral Panel, Ada Mike Igbelo, said 162 delegates were accredited, 154 voted, 8 were absent, and two were invalid.
According to him, out of the total votes cast, Zhin polled 68 votes to defeat incumbent Member, Hon. Isah Ega Dobi,
who polled 51 votes, and the former Chairman of Abaji Area Council, Hon. Yahaya Muhammad Musa, who polled 33 votes.
Prior to the commencement of election, one of the aspirants, Mrs. Esther Tawasimi, withdrew from the race.
Accreditation started by 12.30 pm at Kwali township hall while voting commenced at 2.pm amidst heavy security.
Among the elections held in the Territory at the weekend, Kwali’s was the most intriguing, as confusion ensued while counting of votes was in progress. Our correspondent gathered that the crisis started when an agent attempted snatching a ballot box and was prevented by security agents.
On Sunday, for Abuja South Constituency, All Progressive Congress (APC) held its primary election at Brifina hotel, Gwagwalada.
In the election, the former Chairman of Gwagwalada Area Council, Hon. Zakari Angulu, was given the party’s ticket unopposed.
In his address, the Chairman of Electoral Committee, Hon. Emilagba Jibril, said Hon. Angulu had no opponent, and “hereby given the party’s flag unopposed.”
Also on Sunday, PDP held primaries for the FCT Senate in which the incumbent Senator, Philip Aduda, emerged victorious. Aduda polled 255 votes out of the 263 that were cast. One of the aspirants, Hajiya Ireti Kingibe, withdrew from the race before the voting began.
Surprisingly, Kingibe stormed Gwagwalada, where APC was holding primaries for Senate, yesterday to contest for the ticket. As at 5pm, accreditation of delegates was still ongoing, and when asked whether she was going to step down for anybody she said “no”.