The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has fixed the elections into the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Area Councils for February 21, 2026.
INEC chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu announced this at the first regular consultative meeting with political parties at the Commission’s headquarters in Abuja on Wednesday.
Yakubu said voting will take place in all the designated Polling Units across the 68 constituencies to elect the six Area Council Chairmen and 62 Councilors in the FCT.
“The last Area Council election in the FCT was held on 12 February 2022. By the effluxion of time, the tenure of the current Chairmen and Councillors ends next year.
“Consequently, the Commission has approved that the 2026 Area Council election in FCT will hold on Saturday 21st February 2026. Voting will take place in all the designated Polling Units across the 68 constituencies to elect the six Area Council Chairmen and 62 Councilors.
“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. 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. Hardcopies of the two documents have been included in your folders for this meeting,” Yakubu said.
He added, “For your guidance, we are also including the hardcopies of the Regulation and Guidelines for Political Parties 2022 in your folders while the softcopy is already available from our website www.inecnigeria.org.”
