EDITORIAL: Abuja Council Polls: A dress rehearsal for 2027?

Logistical challenges and the redistribution of voters to other polling units without proper notice were apparent electoral administrative nightmares.

Elections into the six area councils of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, were held on 21 February. Coming on the heels of the amended Electoral Act 2026, they were more than a routine democratic exercise. As a test-run of the Act, and a litmus test for the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Joash Amupitan, they were, indeed, telling.

The outcome showed that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) swept the polls by winning five chairmanship seats in Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), Kuje, Bwari, Abaji and Kwali, while the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won the Gwagwalada Area Council. The political parties, 17 in all, participated with 637 candidates. There is no report yet in the public space of how the 62 councillorship seats were won. The total number of registered voters was 1.68 million, but only 289,210 of them cast their ballots, representing 14.2 per cent of the FCT voters.

By any stretch of the imagination, this performance is very poor. Although the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) views the turnout as an improvement, against the background of the 9.4 per cent who voted in similar elections in 2022, with 148,685 votes cast, of the 1.58 million people in the voters register. The implication of this is that voter apathy is still a major concern that needs to be dealt with.

The Situation Room of Civil Society Organisations considered the elections as largely peaceful. However, pockets of violence erupted in some areas, one of which resulted in Musa Abubakar, an Africa Democratic Congress (ADC) agent, being killed in Gwagwa polling unit in AMAC. At polling unit 003 in Abaji, ballot papers were declared missing. Amidst a rowdy atmosphere, more than 10 police officers were seen there, with eight of them quickly walking away from the scene, as seen in News Central TV footage. These sound alarm bells for 2027.

Logistical challenges and the redistribution of voters to other polling units without proper notice were apparent electoral administrative nightmares. The polling centres were supposed to open by 8.30 a.m., but as of 11 a.m., they were yet to open in some areas. These anomalies, under the nose of the INEC headquarters, give cause for concern about what could happen during nationwide elections.

The FCT elections, which experienced no challenge of topography or bad roads, unlike the scenario in the Niger Delta or other riverine areas, ought to have had better performance indices. There was a reported downtime in uploading some results to the IREV, even two days after the elections. Also, incorrect Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines were brought to some polling centres, and their replacement caused disturbing delays.

It was not only voters who were disoriented by the redistribution of polling units; many electoral officials also found themselves in difficult situations. After some voters could not locate where to vote for a number of hours, they felt disenfranchised, became enraged, and left for their homes. We wonder what explanations INEC have for these failings.

The Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), which observed the polls, was right in its conclusion that the “…development may have contributed to low voter turnout in some areas and undermined public confidence in the administration of the elections. Ensuring that voters have timely and accurate information about their polling units is a fundamental requirement for inclusive participation and electoral credibility.” Such electoral flux could trigger widespread disruption of polling or violence.

Quite unfortunately, the INEC boss acknowledged delays in the arrival of materials in Kwali and the shortfall of electoral materials in Kuja and Kabusa last Wednesday. These were identified as the handiwork of some subversive INEC workers and hired transporters. The investigation of these matters, as promised by Mr Amupitan, requires urgency. While these malaises in the administration of Nigerian elections are not new, their recurrence arises from the fact that nobody is usually held to account for these occurrences.

But far more exigent in the 21 February FCT polls is the criminality of vote-buying and vote-selling, which the amended Electoral Act abhors. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) reported the arrest of 20 suspects across the six council areas, with Gwagwalada topping with nine suspects. Kuje and Kwali had four each. Voters were reportedly paid ₦10,000 each, which was brazenly carried out, according to the Situation Room of Civil Society Groups.

This is an open challenge to the Nigerian authorities, who often vow to ensure the sanctity of the ballot. A total of ₦17,218,700 was confiscated by the EFCC from those intending to use it to influence the choice of voters. One of the suspects had ₦13.5 million in a car booth parked beside a polling unit in the Kwali Area Council. These signal the possibility of a bigger bazaar in 2027.

Therefore, all eyes are now on the EFCC over the prosecution of those apprehended. A suspect is liable, on conviction, to a two-year jail term, or the payment of fines ranging from ₦2 million to ₦5 million, or both. The most critical in this subversive electoral act is the identification of the sponsors, or parties, the foot-soldiers worked for. Such elusiveness needs to be ended now if this practice is to be stopped.

Unfortunately, the “iridescent lucre” of those in public office and the slap on the wrist the culprits often receive as sanctions have sustained this criminal tendency. It is for this reason that PREMIUM TIMES condemns the rejection of the 10-year jail term for vote-buying or vote-selling offences by federal lawmakers, as carefully proposed by stakeholders in the electoral reform bill, which could have helped to mitigate this barefaced electoral fraud in our country.

INEC has a lot to review from the latest FCT polls. As pointed out by CDD West Africa, “Taken together, these operational gaps point to systemic issues that require urgent attention ahead of the Ekiti, Osun, and the 2027 General Elections, particularly with respect to voter data management, polling unit coordination and frontline procedural readiness.”

The restriction of movement, rather than help in the management of elections in Nigeria, in fact impedes voters willing to cast their ballots, especially those who might have relocated to other parts of a city from where they initially registered. In many jurisdictions, including other African countries, this practice is no longer carried out. Where it is absolutely necessary here, everyone should comply with it, except those on election duties and offering essential services.

The FCT minister, Nyesom Wike, who equally violated the rule that he made in this regard, should not be emulated by state governors in future polls. Otherwise, it symbolises an uneven playing field, which is as corrosive as voter intimidation, the suppression of votes, and other subversive acts of electoral manipulation, which are still carried out with impunity.