FCT ELECTIONS: ATIKU SLAMS GOVERNMENT AS TURNOUT HITS RECORD LOW
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By: Balogun Ibrahim
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has cautioned that Nigeria’s democratic space is shrinking, pointing to the low voter turnout recorded during the Federal Capital Territory Area Council elections as a sign of waning public trust in the democratic process.
In a statement released on Sunday by his media office, the African Democratic Congress chieftain argued that the poor turnout in the nation’s capital was not coincidental. He attributed it to a political climate characterised by intolerance, intimidation, and the gradual erosion of opposition voices.
Results from the polls showed that candidates of the All Progressives Congress won the chairmanship elections in Kuje, Bwari, Kwali, Abaji, and the Abuja Municipal Area Council, in addition to securing the majority of councillorship seats across the FCT.
However, the Peoples Democratic Party candidate emerged victorious in the Gwagwalada Area Council chairmanship election.
The FCT Area Council elections were marked by a notably low voter turnout.
Reacting to the development, former Vice President and African Democratic Congress chieftain, Atiku Abubakar, called on opposition parties and pro-democracy forces nationwide to close ranks and present a united front.
In a statement, Atiku expressed deep concern over what he described as the alarmingly poor participation recorded in Saturday’s FCT Area Council polls, warning that the trend reflects a troubling decline in public engagement with the democratic process.
Reacting to the polls, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar said the voter turnout—averaging below 20 per cent, with the Abuja Municipal Area Council recording a stark 7.8 per cent—amounted to a damning assessment of the state of Nigeria’s democracy under the current administration.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar said that the extremely low voter turnout in the nation’s capital, the symbolic heart of the federation, was no accident.
“It is the predictable result of a political environment poisoned by intolerance, intimidation, and the systematic weakening of opposition voices,” he stated.
Atiku alleged that the All Progressives Congress-led government has deliberately narrowed Nigeria’s democratic space by targeting dissenters, pressuring defectors, and treating opposing views as threats.
He added: “When citizens lose faith that their votes matter, democracy begins to die. What we are witnessing is not mere voter apathy; it is the outcome of an administration that governs with a chokehold on pluralism. Democracy in Nigeria is being suffocated slowly, steadily, and dangerously.
“A democracy without a vibrant opposition, without free political competition, and without public confidence is democracy in name only. If this chokehold is not lifted, history will record this era as the period when our hard-won freedoms were traded for fear and conformity.”
The former Vice President urged opposition parties and democratic forces across Nigeria to urgently unite and form a common front.
“This is no longer a matter of party politics; it is about safeguarding the Republic. The time to unite and work together to rescue and rebuild Nigeria is now,” he said.
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