FCT Area Councils’ Poll: INEC publishes register of 1,680,315 voters

By Lateef Ibrahim, Abuja

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has published and presented the revised Register of Voters for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) ahead of the February 21, 2026, Area Council Election, with the total number of registered voters rising to 1,680,315.
The presentation took place in Abuja on Wednesday during a Stakeholders’ meeting with political parties, where the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for the FCT, Malam Aminu Idris, described the exercise as a critical constitutional requirement in the Commission’s preparations for the election.
The REC recalled that INEC resumed the nationwide Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise on August 18, 2025, beginning with online pre-registration and followed by physical registration nationwide from September 29, 2025.
He explained that, in compliance with Section 9(6) of the Electoral Act, 2022, the CVR was suspended in the FCT on October 12, 2025, to allow the Commission revise the Register of Voters for the Area Council Election.
According to him, the revision process, carried out pursuant to Section 10(6) of the Electoral Act, involved biometric deduplication of the register, its display for claims and objections, and the compilation of a supplementary list arising from the exercise. He noted that the revised register now supersedes all previous registers.
Malam Idris disclosed that the total number of registered voters in the FCT increased from 1,570,307 recorded in 2023 to 1,680,315, adding that detailed statistics were made available to political parties at the meeting.
He further briefed stakeholders on the Commission’s level of preparedness for the February 21, 2026, Area Council Election, which will fill 62 councillorship seats and six chairmanship positions across the FCT.
He listed activities already undertaken by the Commission to include the monitoring of party primaries, publication of final lists of candidates, commencement of campaign monitoring, receipt of non-sensitive materials, activation of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), voter education and sensitisation, stakeholder engagement, and collaboration with security agencies through the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES).
The REC urged political parties and candidates to sustain the prevailing peaceful atmosphere in the FCT and intensify voter mobilisation ahead of the election.
He also announced that Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) for newly registered voters, as well as those who applied for transfer or updates during the CVR exercise, had been delivered to the FCT, noting that the Commission would announce the commencement date for PVC collection in due course.
In a related development, INEC has resumed the Continuous Voter Registration exercise in Anambra State.
The CVR exercise was suspended on July 20, 2025, to enable the Commission clean up the voters’ register, as well as produce and distribute Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) ahead of the November 8, 2025, governorship election in the state.
The resumption of the CVR exercise at the Anambra State office and the 21 Local Government Area offices is expected to provide eligible voters the opportunity to register, update their records, apply for replacement of lost or damaged PVCs, and transfer their voting locations ahead of the 2027 General Election.