By Harry Awurumibe, Editor, Abuja Bureau
In keeping with the Electoral Act 2022 which requires the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to release the timetable and schedule of activities within 360 days (i.e. One year) before the date fixed for an election, the Commission has disclosed that the Area Council Election in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) will hold on Saturday February 21, 2026.
INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu made this disclosure on Wednesday at the 1st Regular Consultative Meeting with the leadership of the registered political parties in Nigeria under the umbrella of Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) held at the INEC Conference Room, Abuja.
Prompt News reports that the last Area Council Election in the FCT was held on 12 February 2022 and by the effluxion of time, the tenure of the current Chairmen and Councillors will end next year.
Consequently, the INEC Chairman said that Commission has approved that the 2026 Area Council election in FCT will hold on Saturday, February 21, 2026.
According to him, voting will take place in all the designated Polling Units across the 68 constituencies to elect the six Area Council Chairmen and 62 Councilors.
Said he: “In compliance with the mandatory legal requirements, the notice for the election will be published next month i.e. 26th February 2025. Party primaries will be held from 9th – 30th June 2025. The candidate nomination portal will open from 9.00am on 21st July 2025 to 6.00pm on 11th August 2025. The final list of candidates will be published on 22nd September 2025”.
Speaking further, Mahmood said “campaign in public by political parties will commence on 24th September 2025 and end at midnight of Thursday 19th February 2026.
“The detailed Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the election as well as the list of constituencies and type of elections in the FCT will be uploaded to our website before the end of this meeting”.
Meanwhile,
Take one…Take one….
REMARKS BY THE CHAIRMAN, INDEPENDENT NATIONAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION (INEC), PROF. MAHMOOD YAKUBU, AT THE FIRST REGULAR CONSULTATIVE MEETING WITH POLITICAL PARTIES HELD AT THE INEC CONFERENCE ROOM, ABUJA, ON WEDNESDAY 22ND JANUARY 2025
Chairman of Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC)
Chairmen and other Leaders of Political Parties
National Commissioners
The Secretary to the Commission
Other Senior Officials of the Commission
Members of the INEC Press Corps
Ladies and Gentlemen
- It is my pleasure to welcome you all to our first regular quarterly consultative meeting for the year 2025. It is therefore appropriate to start by wishing you a blissful new year.
- You may recall that last year began and ended with a number of elections. Overall, the Commission conducted 51 re-run elections, bye-elections and off-cycle elections in 2024. In February, the Commission conducted re-run elections in 39 constituencies combined with nine bye-elections arising from vacancies in the national and State Assemblies nationwide. We also conducted two Governorship elections, the last one held in November 2024 in Ondo State.
- Furthermore, we had several electoral activities, including the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) ahead of the Edo and Ondo State Governorship elections, the publication of our 2023 General Election Report and the release of the Review Report containing 142 recommendations arising from our in-house and external engagements with stakeholders. Similarly, we sustained our engagements with stakeholders. During the year, we had a total of 16 regular quarterly consultative meetings with political parties, civil society organisations, the media and security agencies in addition to extraordinary meetings as the need arose.
- Sadly, in 2024 our State office in Benin City was flooded but we were able to recover ahead of the election. Elsewhere, two of our Local Government offices were attacked in incidents unrelated to elections or electoral activities. In Sankara, the headquarters of Ukum Local Government Area of Benue State, our office, along with other public buildings and private institutions in the area, was attacked during a local protest against insecurity. In Owa Oyibu, the headquarters of Ika North East Local Government Area of Delta State, our office was destroyed in a fire incident. The Commission is glad that our staff were safe in the two locations. However, many electoral assets were lost and the buildings substantially damaged.
- In terms of elections and electoral activities, the year 2025 is going to be busier than 2024. You may recall that at our fourth regular consultative meeting held on Thursday 17th October last year, the Commission released the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the Anambra State Governorship election holding on Saturday 8th November 2025. Already, the Notice of Election has been published over two months ago as provided in the Timetable. The next activity is the conduct of primaries by political parties.
