The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) area council elections, conducted on Saturday, February 21, 2026, witnessed a dominant performance by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), which secured five out of the six available chairmanship positions. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) managed to clinch victory in only one area council, Gwagwalada, preventing a complete sweep by the APC.

The APC candidates emerged victorious in Bwari, Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), Kwali, Abaji, and Kuje area councils. In AMAC, incumbent Christopher Maikalangu of the APC won with 40,295 votes. Joshua Ishaku secured Bwari with 18,466 votes, Daniel Nuhu won Kwali with 17,032 votes, and incumbent Umar Abdullahi Abubakar took Abaji with 15,535 votes. In Kuje, Danjuma Samuel of the APC polled 17,269 votes to defeat the PDP candidate. The PDP’s sole victory came in Gwagwalada, where Mohammed Kasim scored 22,165 votes against APC’s Yahaya Shehu.

Following the elections, President Bola Tinubu congratulated the winners and lauded the “remarkable achievements” of the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, stating these had yielded political dividends for the APC. President Tinubu emphasized that the successful conduct of the elections in FCT, Kano, and Rivers states strengthened democratic culture and institutions, urging winners to serve with humility and dedication. Wike, in turn, thanked President Tinubu for the peaceful conduct of the polls, describing the outcome as a reflection of the president’s visionary leadership and the impact of the ‘Renewed Hope Agenda’. He also seized the opportunity to address criticisms from human rights lawyer Femi Falana regarding a public holiday and curfew during the polls, urging him to verify facts before commenting. APC National Chairman Nentawe Yilwatda hailed the victories as a testament to the party’s grassroots strength and unity.

However, the elections were not without controversy and concerns. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, a chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), expressed alarm over the low voter turnout, calling it a “damning verdict” on Nigeria’s democracy. He attributed it to a political environment poisoned by intolerance, intimidation, and the weakening of opposition voices, urging opposition parties to unite. Dr. Moses Paul, the ADC chairmanship candidate for AMAC, refused to concede, citing electoral irregularities and vowing to continue his fight for the people’s mandate.

The PDP leadership voiced concerns about alleged manipulation, particularly in Kuje’s Central and Kabi wards, where results were delayed, urging INEC to immediately release them. The party highlighted “unprecedented intimidation, high-powered money politics and brazen executive brigandage,” including reports of armed security personnel carting away result sheets and intimidating voters. PDP presidential aspirant Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim viewed the FCT results as a signal of the party's resurgence despite internal challenges. The Conference of Professionals in the PDP (CP-PDP) also alleged attempts by the APC to use compromised security agencies to unleash violence in Kuje and demanded that only actual votes be announced.

Election monitoring group Yiaga Africa deployed observers and raised significant concerns about the process. Their observations, based on data from 58 of 62 ward collation centres, reported logistical delays, late commencement of collation (with some wards like Kuje Central and Kabi not starting until the next morning), absence of collation at designated times, and intimidation of officials by political thugs. Incidents included security agents discharging tear gas at Zuba Ward in Gwagwalada, community members rejecting results and vandalizing vehicles in Ashara Ward in Kwali, and suspected thugs disrupting collation in Kuje Central, forcing officials to relocate. Yiaga noted temporary IReV downtime caused public suspicion and recommended INEC strengthen deployment, logistics, voter communication, and collation procedures, while urging security agencies to investigate collusion with thugs and political parties to train agents and refrain from deploying thugs.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) reported that by Sunday afternoon, approximately 94% of chairmanship results and 90% of councillorship results had been uploaded to its IReV portal. INEC also clarified that challenges in locating polling units were due to the creation of “split polling units” for large voter populations, not migration, with locations communicated via text messages and emails. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) announced the arrest of 20 suspects for sundry electoral offenses, including vote buying and vote selling, recovering over N17 million across FCT area councils, with one suspect in Kwali found with N13.5 million.

The elections also took place against the backdrop of the recently signed Electoral Act 2026. Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele defended President Tinubu's swift assent, stating it was the culmination of two years of extensive consultation with stakeholders. The Act introduces significant reforms, including a dedicated fund for INEC, mandatory electronic transmission of results from polling units to the IReV portal (with a conditional manual fallback), compulsory use of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), stricter accountability for Resident Electoral Commissioners, and the abolition of indirect party primaries. However, the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) called for an urgent review of the Electoral Act, particularly its provisions on electronic transmission, to ensure it reflects the will of Nigerians and prevents manipulation, a concern addressed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, who urged patience for potential future corrections.

Overall, the FCT area council elections served as a critical test run for INEC ahead of the 2027 general elections, highlighting both the APC's growing grassroots dominance and persistent challenges related to electoral integrity, voter participation, and the implementation of new electoral laws.