Registered voters in the nation’s capital, Abuja will today file out to participate in the election of officials into the territory’s six Area Councils.
For the exercise, statistics from the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC shows that 14 political parties and 472 candidates will be participating.
There are 68 constituencies made up of 6 Area Council Chairmen and 62 Councillors. A total of 14 out of 18 political parties nominated 110 candidates for Chairmanship/Deputy Chairmanship positions and 362 candidates for Councillorships.
INEC deployments
INEC has on its part deployed 2,822 the Biometric Voters Accreditation System BVAS and 12,000 adhoc staff for the exercise.
There are 1,373,492 registered voters expected to participate in the elections for Chairmen and Councillors, in 2,229 polling units.
There are 593 polling units in the FCT without registered voters, while 1,328 polling units in the territory have a maximum of 50 voters, while 546 others have more than 1,000 registered voters.
NSCDC deploys 3,000 personnel
Meanwhile, the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, the FCT Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC has announced the deployment of 3000 personnel to augment security arrangements before, during and after the polls.
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FCT Commandant of the Corps, Dr. Peter Maigari, while ordering the deployment, stressed that keen attention will be given to the election as Abuja is the seat of power.
Addressing officers and men of the Corps in Abuja, Maigari expressed optimism on the preparedness of the Corps, saying the NSCDC is ready to provide adequate security to protect critical infrastructure and national assets during the elections.
Maigari stated further that while elections in other states may have some form of skirmishes either big or small, that of Abuja, should be a hallmark of very decent, free and fair election.
He said; “The FCT Command is fully ready as one of the security agencies that will be participating in election security. As you are aware that the Nigerian Police Force is the lead agency as far as FCT election is concerned. Other component agencies are part of the election security committee and the NSCDC happens to be one of them and is ready.
“The command will be deploying a total of 3000 personnel just only for the elections.
“Much more personnel will be deployed to protect the critical infrastructural national assets and so on that day you may not only see 3000 personnel but more than that.
“Equally, other supporting units, for instance we will be using K-9 unit to assist in the provision of security. To this end, the command is fully ready. I also want to let you know that the Commandant General, Dr. Ahmed Abubakar Audi has supported the command with the required logistics and other instrument and equipment that would be needed in the elections so that we can have a free, fair and credible elections come 12th February, 2022”, he added