Ahead of the 2027 general elections, President Bola Tinubu and the leaders of the opposition are set to use the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Area Council elections, holding in Abuja today, to test their political might. Many of the leaders across the political divide have argued that the strength shown today by the parties will be a spring board for the 2027 polls.
The FCT elections have a semblance of a national election because the Area Council polls are very competitive, unlike the bandwagon effect that happens during local government elections in the states. Abuja is the only entity apart from the 36 states in the country where local council election is conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The election, seen as a dress rehearsal for the 2027 general elections, has seen leaders across political par- ties leading the campaigns of their candidates. APC National Chairman, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, who described the FCT contest as more than a local election, inaugurated a 72-member campaign council headed by Kwara State Governor, Mallam AbdulRaham AbdulRazaq.
Wike, Obi, Atiku lock horns in 62 wards
To show their preference, the political gladiators are openly supporting different parties: although the FCT Minister, Chief Nyesom Wike, said he is still a member of PDP, he is openly campaigning for the APC.
The Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party in 2023, Peter Obi, and his PDP counterpart, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, as well as former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, are leading the ADC campaign. The SDP presidential candidate in 2023, Prince Adewole Adebayo is spearheading his party’s campaign while INEC, has said the poll will hold in 62 wards spread across the six Area Councils making up the territory.
The commission also disclosed that a total of 1, 680, 315 registered voters who had already collected their permanent voter’s cards (PVCs), will take part in the election that is expected to produce six Area Council Chairmen and 62 councillors who will administer the affairs of the territory for the next four years.
Weeks leading to the elections had witnessed intense campaigns by political parties trying to sell their candidates to the electorate that will determine their fate and INEC said a total of 17 political parties are fielding candidates in the elections.
Among the candidates include those supplied by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), the coalition platform, the African Democratic Congress (ADC), the badly fractured Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP) among others.
Labour Party which made strong showing in the 2023 presidential election was disqualified because INEC said at the time the primary elections were conducted, the party had no recognised leadership to be able to field candidates for the poll.
INEC pledges free, fair poll, mandates EFCC to go after vote buyers
INEC has pledged to conduct transparent and credible elections. The commission’s Chairman Prof Joash Amupitan, had at a stakeholders’ meeting said the commission does not have a political party and does not have preferred candidates in the election.
“Our mandate is clear: to provide the enabling environment for residents of the Federal Capital Territory to freely choose their representatives on 21st February 2026,” he stated. Though Prof. Amupitan said that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) would be used for voter accreditation and to upload polling unit results to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV), transmission of results will not be real-time.
“All the required BVAS devices for the polling units, including those for the 195 split polling units, as well as the additional five per cent backup, have been thoroughly tested and fully charged for deployment on election day. “To further strengthen public confidence, the commission conducted a mock accreditation exercise using the improved BVAS in 289 polling units across the FCT.
The outcome of that exercise was satisfactory. “We are confident in the effectiveness and reliability of the system for this election,” Prof. Amupitan boasted. The INEC Chairman also disclosed that the commission had given a mandate to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC),
to deploy their personnel to polling units to curb the incidence of vote buying. According to him, any individual found buying or selling votes would be apprehended and dealt with in accordance with the law. “Vote trading undermines the sanctity of the ballot and erodes public confidence in democratic institutions. It must not be tolerated,” he warned.
Police ban movements, deploy operatives
The Commissioner of Police in charge of the FCT, Mr. Dantawaye Miller, said his commands will “deploy massively” for the elections.
Miller disclosed that the command had warned trouble makers not to test the police might as the command is ready to deal ruthlessly with electoral law offenders. The command had imposed restrictions of movement from 6 am to 6 pm on Saturday.
Governors join campaign council
Three other governors, Chief Hope Uzodinma (Imo), Alhaji Mai Buni (Yobe) and Alhaji Mohammed Bago (Niger), also serve as co-Chairmen of the council while Deputy Speaker, Benjamin Kalu, is the Secretary. Prof. Yilwatda added that the election would test the APC’s grassroots machinery ahead of the 2027 general elections.
In 2022, the six chairmanship positions were split three apiece between the APC and the PDP. While the APC won Gwagwalada, Kwali and Abaji, PDP won Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), Bwari and Kuje. There has never been a time any political party won all the seats.
Candidates’ withdrawal is Wike’s type of voodoo democracy – PDP
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said the forced withdrawal of some of its chairmanship candidates by the FCT Minister is in furtherance of the minister’s plan to hold the party for President Bola Tinubu. PDP in a statement by the National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Ini Emembong, yesterday described the action as anti-democratic and condemnable.
“Democracy thrives on healthy electoral contests, not forced or induced melodramatic consensus, as currently witnessed in the build-up to the FCT local council elections,” the party stated. PDP said this is a pointer to the type of voodoo democracy promoted by those parading themselves as leaders of the PDP, whose only interest is to ‘hold’ the party for the president.
“This is a exactly what they intended to do to Nigerians, when close to the presidential elections, they can compel, induce or cajole all the other candidates to step down or withdraw for the president to have a smooth sail back to Aso Rock Villa, despite the abysmal performance of his administration,” the party warned.
It added that it was for this reason that Wike and his supporters were expelled from the PDP, “in order to rebuild a strong opposition party, prepared for a struggle to return to power by 2027.”
PDP however, urged Abuja voters go to the polls on Election Day, prepared to protect their votes and ensure that presiding offi- cers transmit Form EC8A immediately after an- nouncing the result at the polling unit.
