INEC speaks on FCT area council polls, hails voter turnout
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced the results of the February 21 elections for chairmanship positions across the six area councils of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), including 62 councillorship seats.
In a statement by the Acting Director of Voter Education and Publicity (VEP), Wilfred Ifogah, on Sunday, INEC appreciated residents of the FCT for their peaceful conduct during and after the election.
”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 commission appreciates the residents of the FCT for their peaceful conduct and cooperation throughout the electoral process,” the statement read.
It also noted that results from the elections were announced late Saturday, except that of the Kuje Area council announced 3:30 pm on Sunday due to the difficult terrain of Kabi Ward, which slowed down the final collation process.
According to the commission’s elections board, 45 percent of the polling units opened as early as 8:30 am on election day, while polling units were confirmed to ready by 10:00am.
The commission, while dismissing claims that voters were migrated to new polling units other than their original location, noted that it instead created split polling units at locations with a high number of over 1250 voter registration.
”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,” it said.
The commission also recalled that register of voters were at various designated centres and polling units four days before the election to enable voters confirm their details and polling units locations.
It added, “Text messages and emails were sent to affected voters between Wednesday, February 18 and Saturday, February 21, 2026, as reminders to help them identify their correct polling units.”
The commission disclosed that as of 2pm on Sunday, over 93 percent of polling results were uploaded to the INEC Result Viewing Portal, IREV and was accessible to the six area councils via the portal.
”The commission also wishes to inform the public that as of 2:00pm on Sunday, February, 22, 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,” it noted.
Speaking on alleged voter apathy, INEC reported a significant improvement in the 2026 Area Council Elections, compared to the 2022 when 148,685 voters participated, representing 9.4 per cent of registered voters.
In contrast, the 2026 election recorded over 239,210 voters, representing approximately 15 per cent of the 1,680,315 total registered voters in the FCT.
The commission reiterated its appreciation of the electorates for their participation in the election, stating “The recorded participation across the six Area Councils is indicative of citizens’ continued trust in building democracy and the electoral system.”
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