The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Mohammed Kasim, has emerged winner of the Gwagwalada Area Council chairmanship election held as part of the Federal Capital Territory’s local government polls on Saturday.
Announcing the results in the early hours of Sunday, the Independent National Electoral Commission Returning Officer, Philip Akpen, said Kasim secured 22,165 votes to defeat his closest rival, Yahaya Shehu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who polled 17,788 votes.
Akpen described the election as peaceful and smoothly conducted.
“I am the returning officer for the 2026 FCT Area Council, Gwagwalada chairmanship held on February 21, 2026. That Mohammed Kasim of PDP, having certified the requirements of the law, is hereby declared the winner and is returned elected,” he declared.
Biko Umar of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) scored 1,687 votes to place third.
The local government elections were conducted across all six Area Councils of the FCT — Abuja Municipal Area Council, Abaji, Bwari, Gwagwalada, Kuje, and Kwali — covering both chairmanship and councillorship positions.
A breakdown of the chairmanship results in Gwagwalada showed 46,294 accredited voters out of 207,577 registered voters. Total valid votes cast were 43,960, with 1,521 rejected votes.
