By Myke Uzendu, Abuja
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Wednesday presented the revised Register of Voters for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), showing a total of 1,680,315 registered voters ahead of the February 21, 2026, Area Council Election.
Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for the FCT, Malam Aminu Idris, disclosed the figure during a stakeholders’ meeting with political parties in Abuja, describing the revision as a critical constitutional step in preparations for the election to fill six chairmanship and 62 councillorship seats across the territory.
The REC explained that INEC resumed nationwide Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) on August 18, 2025, with online pre-registration followed by physical registration from September 29. In line with Section 9(6) of the Electoral Act 2022, CVR in the FCT was suspended on October 12, 2025, to enable biometric deduplication, display for claims and objections, and compilation of a supplementary list.
“The revised register now supersedes all previous registers,” Malam Idris stated, noting the increase from 1,570,307 voters recorded in 2023. Detailed statistics were shared with political parties at the meeting.
He briefed stakeholders on the Commission’s preparedness, including monitoring of party primaries, publication of final candidate lists, campaign monitoring, receipt of non-sensitive materials, activation of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), voter education, stakeholder engagement, and security collaboration through the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES).
The REC urged parties and candidates to maintain the peaceful atmosphere in the FCT and intensify voter mobilisation.
He also announced that Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) for newly registered voters and those who applied for transfers or updates during CVR have been delivered to the FCT, with the collection date to be announced soon.
In a related development, INEC has resumed the Continuous Voter Registration exercise in Anambra State after suspending it on July 20, 2025, to clean the register and distribute PVCs ahead of the November 8, 2025, governorship election. The resumption across the state office and 21 local government offices will allow eligible voters to register, update records, replace lost or damaged PVCs, and transfer voting locations ahead of the 2027 general election.
