Council polls: Voting halted in FCT ward as ‘hoodlums’ snatch ballot papers

Some hoodlums, on Saturday, snatched ballot papers meant forA.U Suleman II polling unit at the 2026 Abaji area council election in theFederal Capital Territory (FCT). The election was halted as a result of the disruption. Speaking with journalists, Musa Ibrahim, assistant presidingofficer 1, said the hoodlums invaded the polling unit in Abaji South Ward shortly after the election commenced at about 9am. The official said two bundles of ballot papers, eachcontaining 100 sheets, out of which 27 had been used from each bundle for thechairmanship and counselorship elections, were carted away by the hoodlums. He, however, said the polling unit ifficials incollaboration with the security agents on ground were able to secure othersensitive and non-sensitive material. Ibrahim said when calm was restored, attempts to continuewith the process was stalled by some party agents who insisted that the missingballot papers must first be recovered. “We did the maths and saw that about 73 are missing. Sincethe BVAS has taken cognisance of the ones we have used, elections can continueand a detailed report will be made to address the matter,” NAN quoted him assaying. “While some party agreed that the process should continue,some other agents strongly disagreed on the grounds that the stolen paperscould be used to manipulate the outcome of the elections. “We have now put the election on holds waiting for 2.30 p.mwhen election should close and then we will count what we have and declareresults.” Musa Bashir, a witness, explained that the incident occurredduring a disagreement among party agents following the visit of the sittingcouncil chairman to the polling unit to observe proceedings. He said the affected polling unit is one of the strongholdsof the chairman, alleging that the attack was aimed at frustrating voterssupporting the chairman. Bashir said all efforts and appeals by stakeholders to theagents to allow the voting process continue did not yield the required result. According to NAN, stranded voters were seen sitting on thefloor while others were standing at different locations within the pollingunit, hoping that the process will resume.

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