“FCT Council Elections Were Marred with Irregularities”– PDP
“Nigerians have Spoken with Their Votes, Elections were Fair” — APC
By Abiola Olawale
The All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have engaged in a heated exchange following the declaration of results for the 2026 Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Area Council elections, held on February 21, 2026.
The ruling APC secured a dominant victory by winning five out of the six chairmanship seats, while the PDP claimed the sole remaining council, intensifying debates over electoral integrity, voter turnout, and the implications for the 2027 general elections.
According to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which conducted the polls, the APC triumphed in the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), Abaji, Bwari, Kwali, and Kuje Area Councils.
The PDP, however, held on to Gwagwalada Area Council, where its candidate, Hon. Mohammed Kasim, defeated the APC’s Yahaya Shehu with 22,165 votes to 17,788.
The results have been hailed by the APC as a strong endorsement of President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda and ongoing reforms.
Appearing on The Morning Brief on Channels Television, APC National Publicity Secretary Felix Morka described the outcome as a natural reflection of voters’ choices.
“The fact is that an election was called and Nigerians who were eligible to vote went out to cast their ballots, and the authority empowered to regulate, conduct, and monitor the election did so and declared the results in favour of the APC. The votes were collated and counted, and every requirement was met. The APC won the majority of the councils in the FCT,” he said.
Morka added that the ruling party’s strong performance should not be surprising, arguing that the administration of President Bola Tinubu has created favourable public sentiment.
“The APC is the ruling party, and President Bola Tinubu is doing a fantastic job. The economic indicators are strengthening and moving at a pace many did not expect,” he stated.
Also speaking on the programme, factional PDP spokesman Ini Ememobong warned that opposition parties may take a collective position ahead of future elections and signalled the possibility of legal action over alleged irregularities.
Ememobong criticised the conduct of the election, citing low voter turnout and logistical concerns.
“This is the first election testing the new Electoral Act, and it reinforces our concerns about voter apathy. In many polling units, you saw only a handful of voters, while in others no one voted because people believed their votes would not count,” he said.
He questioned delays in result collation, particularly in the Kuje Area Council.
“How could an election that ended in the afternoon only have results available the following day? That clearly shows why real-time electronic transmission is important,” he added.
Ememobong insisted the PDP was not rejecting the results out of bitterness but out of concern for electoral integrity.
“We are not sore losers. The contests were largely between the PDP and APC, but many things went wrong, including the movement restriction before the election, which stakeholders said was unnecessary,” the PDP spokesman stated.
Speaking about the presence of FCT Minister Nyesom Wike at the polls despite being a PDP member, Morka defended his participation.
“Mr. Wike is a citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria who enjoys the constitutional freedom to participate in democracy, hold opinions, and express them. It is about his personal views and actions within the law. We should not overthink it,” he said.
Also speaking on the matter, Ememobong criticised the minister’s visible presence at polling areas, saying it could undermine confidence in the process.
“The minister is not a voter in the FCT, yet he was on parade with a crowd. That alone could compromise the integrity of the election. There are many issues we need to fix,” he said.
