Nigeria, Feb. 21 -- Residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) will go to the polls today to elect the leadership of its six area councils.

The area councils are Abaji, Bwari, Gwagwalada, Kwali, Kuje and the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC).

About 637 candidates from 17 political parties are jostling for the 68 positions - 62 councillors and six area council chairpersons. Five of the area councils have 10 wards each, while AMAC has 12.

There are 1,680,315 registered voters in the territory but 1,587,025, who collected their Permanent Voter Cards (PVC), are expected to vote across 2,822 polling units in the six area councils, supported by 4,345 Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines.

As part of its preparation for ...