Residents urged to take council poll serious

Residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have been urged to show more seriousness and participate actively in local elections.

A resident, Mazi Akooba, who decried the low turnout during the area council election in Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), said people should show more interest in the council election because good leadership starts from the grassroots.

Akooba said if the large turnout recorded during the presidential and National Assembly elections had been repeated during the March 9 council elections, residents would have helped in shaping leadership from the bottom-up instead of the usual top-bottom approach.

“But there is need to encourage them to come and vote. Good leadership starts from the grassroots, not from the top. Leadership should be from bottom-up. Some people had to be called before they came out to vote. People think they do not have a stake in the local elections, which is wrong,” he said.

Another resident, Chinedu Maxwell, said people failed to come out due to their belief that they did not have a stake in the area council elections.

“I think the turnout is low. People don’t tend to have much stake in this election. They put a priority on presidency and National Assembly elections,” he said.

He, however, expected INEC to conduct a credible election, adding that Nigerians were dissatisfied with the conduct of INEC officials during the presidential and National Assembly elections.