Friday, August 14, 2026

FCT Polls: Voting disrupted as ballot papers go missing at Abaji polling unit

Supporters of both the All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party traded blame over the disruption of the exercise.

• February 21, 2026
Abaji polling unit.
Abaji polling unit.[Credit: X]

Voting was disrupted after ballot papers were declared missing at AU Suleman 003 polling unit, Abaji Local Government Area in the Federal Capital Territory council election. 

A video from the polling unit seen by our correspondent showed both the All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party supporters accusing each other of disrupting the exercise.

An unidentified APC supporter, who spoke to journalists, said, “The election was going on peaceful then chairman came here to greet everybody. This guy started embarrassing the chairman and that was the reason the election was scattered.

“The ballot paper missed just like that. They picked the ballot paper. The PDP agent did.”

Responding to the APC supporter’s allegation, the PDP polling agent, who identified himself as Bala Hassan, said, “Our election was moving smoothly unfortunately someone came in, a fair guy with a security personnel.”

“I asked him who are you? He said he is a local government official. I said where is your means of indenfication? He could not provide one. That was how the crisis started. The security operatives then sprayed teargas. That was how we all ran and the ballot paper got missing.”

We have recently deactivated our website's comment provider in favour of other channels of distribution and commentary. We encourage you to join the conversation on our stories via our Facebook, Twitter and other social media pages.

More from Peoples Gazette

farmers

Agriculture

FG tasks ECOWAS on leveraging financing strategies for agroecology

The federal government has urged stakeholders in the agriculture and finance sectors in the West Africa region to leverage financing strategies to enhance agroecology practices

Katsina State

Politics

Katsina youths pledge to deliver over 2 million votes to Atiku

“Katsina State is Atiku’s political base because it is his second home.”

Image used to illustrate the story

World

Eight dead, thousands stranded in Japan’s heavy rains

Weather authorities said the 367 millimetres of rain over 24 hours in Chiba exceeded the previous record of 309 millimetres from years ago.

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

Economy

SEC orders capital market operators to freeze nine terrorist financiers’ assets

SEC directed CMOs to freeze the funds, assets and other economic resources belonging to six individuals and three entities designated as terrorist financiers.

Disposable grill

World

UK bans sales of disposable barbecues amid wildfires, drought

Prime Minister Andy Burnham said disposable barbecues started some of the wildfires burning across the country.

Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations

World

Nigerian epidemiologist to lead global pandemic preparedness body CEPI

Mr Abubakar succeeds Richard Hatchett, who has led the global health partnership since its establishment in 2017.

National Orientation Agency (NOA)

States

NOA urges Osun voters to exercise civic rights

The agency said every eligible voter has the right to freely choose a candidate and should do so without fear, intimidation, or inducement.

Photo of children hawking used to illustrate the story

States

Kano records 11.5% drop in out-of-school children

Mr Haruna-Makoda said the latest figure represents a reduction of 113,641, or 11.5 per cent, compared with the 989,234 out-of-school children recorded in 2023.