Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has described the FCT area councils’ election as “peaceful” and commended the electorate for their conduct.

Mr Wike gave the commendation in Abuja on Saturday, after monitoring the election in Garki, Karu Chief’s Palace, Karshi, Kabusa, and Ketti.

He observed voter apathy, particularly in the city centre, noting, however, that voters’ turnout in satellite towns was quite impressive.

The minister said, “We thank God that everywhere is peaceful. The problem we have is low voter turnout, particularly in the city centre, and that has always been the case.

“Going to some of the satellite towns like this polling unit in Keti, you can see that the turnout is quite impressive.

“The low turnout of voters is very unfortunate. What is important, however, is that the election is peaceful—no violence, snatching of ballot papers or the ballot boxes.”

The minister commended security agencies for ensuring a hitch-free exercise, saying, “They have done their job very well.”

“We used to have pockets of violence here and there, but in this case, we have not heard any case of reported violence in the polling units,” he said.

On the conduct of the election, the minister commended the Independent Electoral Commission for a job well done so far.

Responding to Senator Ireti Kingibe’s comments on national television, condemning the restriction of movement from Friday evening to Saturday evening, the minister described the comments as very “unfortunate.”

Ms Kingibe, representing FCT at the Senate, had on Friday condemned Mr Wike for what she described as “unlawful imposition of curfew” from 8:00 p.m. Friday to 6:00 p.m. Saturday.

The minister clarified that he had not imposed a curfew but restricted movement with the approval of President Bola Tinubu, to ensure a hitch-free election.

“I never imposed curfew. If you read my statement, I said, with the approval of Mr President, movements would be restricted from 8:00 p.m. Friday to 6:00 p.m. today, and this is not the first time.

“You can see that some people did not take time to read the statement, and I don’t want to join issues with her.

“At the end of the election, when the results come out, then we will know,” he said.

Mr Wike urged residents to remain peaceful during the collation of results, just as they were during voting.

(NAN)