EFCC Arrests 20 Over Vote Buying, Recovers ₦17.2m During FCT Council Elections

Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have arrested 20 suspects for alleged involvement in vote buying and other electoral offences during Saturday’s Federal Capital Territory (FCT) area council elections.

The anti-graft agency disclosed this in a statement posted on its official X handle on Sunday evening, revealing that its operatives also recovered over ₦17.2 million cash from the suspects during the operation.

“Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Saturday, February 21, 2026, arrested 20 suspects for sundry electoral offences in the just-concluded Federal Capital Territory, FCT, local government elections,” the statement read.

According to the EFCC, the arrests were made across multiple area councils within the FCT for offences ranging from vote buying, vote selling, and obstruction of law enforcement officers, including interception of ₦17,218,700 cash meant for voter inducement.

“One of the suspects was arrested with a sum of ₦13,500,000 in a car parked beside a polling booth in the Kwali Local Government Area,” the commission stated.

The agency added that two suspects were apprehended in Abaji, nine in Gwagwalada, four in Kuje, and four in Kwali, as part of coordinated enforcement operations across the territory.

“The suspects will be charged to court upon conclusion of investigations,” the EFCC said.