Ahead of the Federal Capital Territory Area Council elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission has announced that over 1.6 million persons have been registered to vote in the polls scheduled for 18 days’ time.
Specifically, the Commission said the total number of registered voters in the FCT rose to 1,680,315 following a recent revision of the voters’ register.
The FCT Resident Electoral Commissioner, Malam Aminu Idris, disclosed this on Tuesday at the INEC Forum for Media Executives, Producers, Reporters and On-Air Personalities in Abuja, ahead of the February 21, 2026, Area Council elections.
He said, “Following the revision of the register of voters, the total number of registered voters in the FCT is now 1,680,315.”
Idris added that INEC has approved the decongestion of large Registration Area Centres to improve efficiency and the movement of personnel and materials on election day.
According to him, sub-RACs have been created in Dutse Alhaji and Kubwa Wards of Bwari Area Council, as well as in Gwarinpa and Kabusa Wards of the Abuja Municipal Area Council.
He also revealed that elections will not be held in four polling units across the FCT because no voters are registered in them.
“There are three polling units in Garki Ward and one in Jiwa Ward where elections will not take place due to zero registration,” he said.
Idris stressed that the Commission is committed to maintaining an accurate and credible voters’ roll for the forthcoming elections.
On preparedness, the REC said INEC has made significant progress across multiple fronts, including monitoring party primaries, publishing final lists of candidates, receiving and batching non-sensitive materials, and activating Bimodal Voter Accreditation System devices.
“We have commenced the monitoring of public campaigns, taken delivery of non-sensitive materials, opened portals for observer accreditation and recruitment of ad-hoc staff, and activated BVAS devices in readiness for configuration,” Idris noted.
He said accreditation of media organisations is ongoing and will close on February 8, 2026, while the collection of Permanent Voter Cards at Area Council offices will continue until February 10, 2026.
He added that INEC will also conduct a mock accreditation exercise in 289 polling units across the six Area Councils to test technologies for voter accreditation, voting and results upload to the INEC Results Viewing portal.
“The purpose is to test-run the technologies that will be deployed on election day, from BVAS accreditation to voting and dummy results upload,” Idris said.
