INEC STATEMENT ON FCT ABUJA AREA COUNCILS ELECTIONS OF 21ST FEBRUARY 2026
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) conducted elections on Saturday, 21st February 2026, for the positions of Chairman in the six Area Councils of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), as well as for 62 Councillorship seats. The results of the election were announced late Saturday except that of Kuje Area Council which was announced at 3:30pm on Sunday 22nd February 2026.
The Commission appreciates the residents of the FCT for their peaceful conduct and cooperation throughout the electoral process.
According to the Commission’s Election Operations Dashboard, 45% of polling units opened for voting as at 8:30am, while all polling units were confirmed open by 10:00am on Election Day. The Commission, however, noted challenges encountered by some voters in locating their designated polling units.
Contrary to the claim in some quarters that some voters were migrated to another/ new polling units different from their original polling units, the Commission wishes to state categorically that voters were not migrated, what the Commission did was to create split polling units in large polling units with voters registration of over 1,250 voters to avoid congestion on election day. The split units are located some few meters away from the original polling units within the same premises.
The public will recall that the Commission displayed the Register of Voters at designated centres/split polling units four days to the Area Council elections to enable voters confirm their details and polling unit locations. Text messages/emails were sent to the affected voters on
Wednesday 18th, Thursday 19th, Friday 20th and Saturday 21st February 2026 indicating the actual locations of their split polling units, were intended solely as reminders to assist them in identifying their current polling units.
The Commission also wishes to inform the public that as at 2:00pm on Sunday, 22nd February 2026, the upload of polling unit results to the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) Portal had reached 93%. Residents of the FCT and other interested members of the public can access results from the six Area Councils via the portal.
While the Commission remains concerned about voter apathy, it notes a significant improvement compared to the previous election. In the 2022 Area Council election, a total of 148,685 voters were recorded, representing 9.4% of registered voters. In the current election, over 239,210 voters voted, representing approximately 15% of the 1,680,315 total registered voters in the FCT.
The delay in the results of Kuje Area Council is due to the difficult terrain of Kabi ward, which delayed the final collation of the Area Council results.
The Commission appreciates the electorate in the FCT for their cooperation and participation throughout the process. The participation recorded across the six Area Councils is indicative of citizens’ continued trust in building democracy and the electoral system.
Wilfred Ifogah
Ag. Director
Voter Education and Publicity (VEP)
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