By Usman Shuaibu
Winners of the February 12th Area Councils elections in the FCT, have been asked to justify the confidence reposed on them by delivering democratic dividends to the residents of the territory, through quality representation.
The FCT Minister of State, Dr. Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu, who gave the charge at the presentation of certificates of return to the newly elected chairmen and councillors of the area council elections, said only through credible representation and leadership can guaranty their stay in office
Aliyu therefore called on the chairmen and councillors elect to brace up for their new responsibilities, stressing that elections are over and the time for work has begun.
She also called on the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to as a matter of urgency improve on the functionality of the Bimodal Voters Accreditation Systems.
According to her, in the course of monitoring the voting process, it was observed that the process was slow at several polling units owing to malfunctioning or faulty BVAS machines.
She therefore tasked the electoral umpire, INEC, to as a matter of urgency look into BVAS machines malfunctioning or in the alternative allow electorate accredited to vote manually as the nation approaches general elections.
In her words, “Today is another remarkable day in the history of FCT as we have successfully conducted one of the most peaceful elections in the third tier of government in Nigeria.
“The elections have been won and lost, but today’s event is for the presentation of certificates of return to the newly elected chairmen of the six area councils and councillors of the 62 wards of FCT. It is worthy to note that the FCT Administration does not in any way interfere with the conduct of the elections. This alone entails transparency.
“However in the course of monitoring the election process in the six area councils the voting process was slow at several polling units because the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System, BVAS, machine was faulty or malfunctioning.
“The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, should as a matter of urgency look into BVAS machine malfunctioning or in the alternative allow electorate accredited to vote manually. I did not say cancel the BVAS, because I am not a contestant in anyway here”.
