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From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
Several voting centres in Karu, Jikwoyi and Kurudu recorded low turn out in the 2026 FCT Area Councils’ poll held on Saturday.
As at 11:30am, INEC officials within the CBN junction in Karu and environs were seen sitting idle waiting for voters to turn up to participate in the election.
At the LEA school in Karu that has many polling centres, voter turnout was poor absolutely far from what is usually recorded during presidential or National Assembly elections.
Low voter turnout was also the experience at the polling centres at Army and Police Estates in Kurudu, respectively, where INEC officials were patiently waiting for voters to come participate in the election. However, the turn up at Jikwoyi phase 2 football field polling units was impressive.
A voter, Shauna, said the massive turnout at the Jikwoyi football field polling units was because the voting population there are mainly Abuja indigenous people who often vote for their own persons seeking election into different offices.
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Similarly, an INEC official at Karu CBN junction told journalists that many voters in the centres around hardly turnout for Area Council, perhaps, they think they have little or no stake in the exercise.
She said: “I was in this polling unit briefly during the 2023 general elections, and the turnout as massive. But you can see the poor turnout of voters in this Area Council election. It’s an indication of poor interest.
“We have been encouraging the few that turned out to return and mobilise their people to come participate in the election. We are hopeful that they would turn up because 2:30pm when voting is expected to end.”
Another voter at LEA School, Karu, said he had to return home to mobilise people to come out and vote. I am an indigene of Abuja. But we are concerned with the way the other tribes in the FCT are suppressing us with their number. And remember election is about numbers, and not sentiment. I had to mobilise our people to come so visitors don’t take what should be ours.
Meanwhile, many eligible voters said they were disenfranchised because of the restrictions in movement. “A voter at Jikwoyi, Catherine, said her polling unit is in Karu FHA but she could access the polling unit because policemen refused to allow transporters to operate freely.
