The All Progressives Congress and its candidate, Yahaya Usman, have filed a petition challenging the outcome of the February 21, 2026, chairmanship election in Gwagwalada Area Council, Abuja.

In the petition marked FCT/ACEPT/EP/02/2026 and obtained by our correspondent on Thursday, the petitioners are contesting the declaration of Mohammed Kasim of the Peoples Democratic Party as the winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission.

INEC had declared Kasim the winner of the poll with 22,165 votes, while Usman polled 17,788 votes.

The petitioners are seeking the nullification of the election on three major grounds, including alleged non-compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act 2026, corrupt practices, and the claim that the declared winner did not secure the majority of lawful votes cast.

According to the petition, the election, conducted across 10 wards and 338 polling units in Gwagwalada Area Council, was marred by widespread irregularities involving electoral officials.

The APC and its candidate alleged that the results in at least six polling units were mutilated and altered to match the number of accredited voters and conceal cases of over-voting. These affected polling units were spread across Kutunku, Ibwa, Tungan Maje, and Ikwa wards.

The petition read, “That the result of 6 polling units in 4 wards i.e., Kutunku (code: 02); Ibwa (code: 04); Tunga Maje (code: 07); and Ikwa (code:09), issued to the Petitioners by the 1st Respondent on request as entered in Forms EC8A series by the presiding officers of the 1st Respondent were altered, changed, results suppressed or inflated to avoid over-voting in breach of the Electoral Act, 2026 and the Electoral Regulations and Electoral Guideline.

“That there were also incidences of cancellations on the face of results in Forms EC8A that were glaringly done in 6 polling units during the Gwagwalada Area Council Chairmanship Election. ”

They further claimed that in two polling units, votes scored by the APC were deliberately suppressed during collation.

The petition also cited 102 polling units where substantial non-compliance with the Electoral Act allegedly occurred, alongside eight polling units where officials reportedly engaged in result manipulation, including erasures, cancellations, and re-writing of figures on result sheets.

“That aside the 102 Polling Units where substantial non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2026 occurred in the 2026 Gwagwalada Chairmanship Election held on the 21st of February, 2026, there are also 8 polling units where electoral officials of the 3rd Respondent engaged in corrupt practices and irregularities by mutilating, erasing, cancelling and re-rewriting the figures in the results sheet with the aim of altering, changing to avoid the consequences of over-voting, as well as suppressing results and inflation of votes”, the petition added.

In addition, the petitioners alleged wrongful accreditation of voters in 71 polling units across six wards, accusing electoral officials of failing to properly tick voters’ details in the register as required by law.

They argued that despite these irregularities, INEC proceeded to collate and rely on the affected votes in declaring the PDP candidate as the winner.

The petition further highlighted incidents of over-voting in 31 polling units, where figures recorded exceeded the number of accredited voters. It stated that a total of 1,289 votes for APC and 3,236 votes for PDP in those units should be considered invalid.

After deducting the disputed votes, the petitioners calculated that APC would have 16,499 valid votes, while PDP would have 18,929 votes, leaving a margin of 2,430 votes.

They argued that the margin of lead is significantly lower than the 21,289 registered voters in the affected polling units, thereby warranting the cancellation of the results and possibly a fresh election.

The petitioners are urging the tribunal to invalidate the election results and determine the rightful winner in accordance with the law. (PUNCH)

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