Following the victory at the Appeal Tribunal, the Chairman of Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), Hon. Christopher Zakka Maikalangu, has called on residents of AMAC to expect more dividends of democracy from his administration.
According to a statement on Monday, signed by the Senior Special Assistant, Media, and Public Affairs to AMAC Chairman, Mr Kingsley Madaki, Maikalangu expressed gratitude to AMAC residents for their support and prayers throughout the prolonged legal battle, which started from the tenure elongation to the election petition tribunal up to the appeal tribunal where the legal battle was finally won.
He said that the battle for supremacy for the soul of the AMAC chairmanship position would not have been won without the support and prayers of good-hearted residents of AMAC, because they decided to fight for justice and for the mandates they voted for.
Maikalangu also expressed gratitude to the three-man panel of the Appeal Tribunal led by Justice Suleiman Belgore as Chairman, while Justice Yusuf Halilu and Justice Jude Onwuegbuzie were members of the panel.
He commended them for deciding to stand by the truth and not allowing their conscience to be bought by selfish politicians, saying that the three justices have written their names with gold in the sand of times and that posterity will always judge in their favour because of this singular act to the good people of AMAC.
The Chairman also commended the doggedness of leaders and members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who stood by him in the period of the legal challenges, mostly the lawmaker representing the AMAC/Bwari federal constituency, Hon. Micah Jiba, for his relentless support and prayers.
According to AMAC chairman, now that the distractions are over, it is time to work for the people who elected him into office as Chairman of this great council, by ensuring that the residents benefit from the dividends of democracy that they have been longing for.
Maikalangu promised that in this first tenure of his administration, he is going to concentrate more on rural communities by providing infrastructural developments in the communities, like rural electrification, the opening of feeder roads, provision of pipe-borne water through the construction of boreholes, and other basic amenities that would benefit residents in rural communities.
He said that it is no longer going to be business as usual, that the government is set to work and cover up the time that was wasted by the legal issues which were used to distract the leadership of the council, thereby calling on residents to expect 80 percent infrastructural development in the rural areas and 20 percent in the urban areas.
The council chairman said that the reason for this massive gap in the development percentage is because the rural communities lack basic amenities because of the long period of total neglect by the previous administration, while the rural communities are always developed because of their closeness to the government at the center.
He said that the government of the PDP has always been known to be a grassroots government, by taking development to those at the grassroots, saying that his administration is going to continue with grassroots development and ensure that residents in rural communities are drawn closer to the government.
Maikalangu further called on residents of AMAC to continue to support and pray for the success of his administration, that the present administration will do everything within its powers to see that everyone, irrespective of political, religion, or tribal affiliation is carried along in the interest of the development of the council.