Elections were held in the six area councils of Abuja on Saturday. The area councils are Abaji, Bwari, Gwagwalada, Kwali, Kuje and the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC).
About 637 candidates from 17 political parties are vying for the 68 positions – 62 councillors and six area council chairpersons. Five of the area councils have 10 wards each, while AMAC has 12.
PREMIUM TIMES deployed reporters to the six area councils for live coverage of the elections.
The results from the polling units are collated at the wards before a final collation at the area councils for the seats of chairpersons.
Find the final results for the six seats for chairpersons as declared by INEC below.
Gwagwalada Area Council
– Registered voters: 207,577
– Accredited voters: 46,294
Results
– A: 151
– AA: 116
– ADC: 1,366
– ADP: 128
– APC: 17,788
– APGA: 1,687
– APM: 24
– NNPP: 175
– PDP: 22,165
– SDP: 432
– YPP: 158
– Total valid votes: 43,960
– Rejected votes: 1,521
#FCTDecides2026: APC’s Maikalangu wins AMAC chairmanship election
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared Christopher Maikalangu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the elected chairman of the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC).
The Collation Officer for AMAC, Andrew Abue, said that Mr Maikalangu, who is the incumbent AMAC chairman, was returned elected, having scored the highest number of votes cast, 40,295 out of the total number of Valid Votes of 62,861 in the election.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the African Democratic Congress (ADC) came second with 12,109 votes, while the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) polled 3,398 votes.
According to Mr Abue, a professor, the rejected votes are 2,336, and the total valid votes are 62,861, while the total votes cast are 65,197.
He added that the number of registered voters in AMAC was 837,338, while the total number of accredited voters was 65,676.
“That Maikalangu of the APC, having certified the requirements of the law, is hereby declared the winner and is returned elected,” Mr Abue said.
According to him, the scores of the 12 political parties and their candidates that contested the AMAC chairmanship election are:
Agbon Vaniah of the Accord (A)-403 votes
Nemiebika Tamunomiesam of the Action Alliance (AA)-108 votes
Paul Ogidi of African Democratic Congress (ADC) -12,109 votes
Richard Elizabeth of the Action Democratic Party (ADP) – 588 votes
Christopher Maikalangu of the All Progressives Congress (APC)- 40,295 votes
Eze Chukwu of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) – 1,111 votes
Chukwu Promise of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) – 122 votes .
Ugoh Michael of the Action Peoples Party(APP) – 32 votes
Thomas Happiness of the Boot Party (BP) – 43 votes.
Jibrin Alhassan of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) – 1,694 votes.
Samson Usani of the National Rescue Movement (NRM) – 73 votes.
Dantani Zanda of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) – 3,398 votes
Iber Shimakaha of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) – 90 votes
Simon Obinna of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) – 2,185 votes
Madaki Robert of the Young Progressives Party (YPP) – 421 votes; and
Swani Buba of the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) – 189 votes.
Speaking in an interview with journalists immediately after the announcement of results, the APC Collation Agent, Gambo Babale, described the election and collation process as credible.
“INEC have done so well. We’ve seen the processes across all the polling units, the ward coalition centres and here at AMAC area council coalition centre. Everything was done perfectly well.
“They’ve tried. They’ve done everything humanly possible. I believe this high level of transparency occurred in all the coalition exercises that took place in AMAC.
“PDP won about two ward councillors, Karu and Karishi. That is to tell you the level of transparency that happens in this election,” he said.
While congratulating the winner, he said the victory was for Mr Maikalangu to deliver more dividends of democracy to the people of AMAC.
Mr Babale said that the results were an indication that the APC was ready for victory in 2027.
The YPP Ward Collation Agent, Abdullahi Ibrahim, also described the collation process as transparent, while congratulating the winner.
The result sheets were signed by the ADC, APC, APGA, YPP and NNPP party agents present at the collation centre.
#FCTDecides2026: APC wins Bwari chairmanship election
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared Joshua Ishaku of the All Progressives Congress (APC) the winner of the Bwari Area Council chairmanship election.
Mohammed Nurudeen, the Returning Officer for the Bwari chairmanship election, who announced the results on Sunday in Bwari, disclosed that Mr Ishaku polled a total of 18,466 votes and therefore declared him the winner.
“I am the returning officer for the 2026 FCT Area Council, Bwari chairmanship held on Feb. 21, 2026.
“That Joshua Ishaku, having certified the requirements of the law, is hereby declared the winner and is returned elected,” he said.
Mr Nurudeen, a professor, also said that the candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) scored a total of 4,254 votes, while that of the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) scored 3,515 votes to come second and third places, respectively.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the chairmanship election was conducted in 10 wards of the council, namely: Igu, Shere, Dutse, Ushafa, Byazhin, Kuduru, Kubwa, Usuma, Bwari Central and Kawu.
APC wins Kwali Area Council chairmanship election
Daniel Nuhu of the All Progressives Congress has won the Kwali Area Council chairmanship election with 16,656 votes.
Mr Nuhu secured victory across a majority of the wards to defeat Haruna Pai of the Peoples Democratic Party, who polled 8,467 votes to come second in the election.
The results were declared by the INEC presiding officer at Kwali’s final collation centre on Sunday morning.
PREMIUM TIMES reports that elections were held in all ten wards of Kwali on Saturday.
The win in Kwali means APC has now won in three of the four area councils whose results have been announced. Apart from Kwali, APC also won in AMAC and Bwari area councils, while the PDP won in Gwagwalada.
#FCTDecides2026: APC’s Abdullahi wins Abaji chairmanship election
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared Abubakar Abdullahi of the All Progressives Congress (APC) the winner of the chairmanship election for Abaji Area Council in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
INEC Presiding Officer for the area council, Muhammad Usman, announced that Mr Abdullahi, the incumbent chairman of the area council, was returned to office after securing a total of 15,535 votes.
The candidate of the Young Progressives Party (YPP), Loko Angulu, came second with 5,357 votes.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Sokodabo Bilyaminu, followed with 4,547 votes. The candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Aminu Sadiq, secured 53 votes, while the African Democratic Congress (ADC) candidate, Mohammed Ibrahim, polled 37 votes.
“Umar Abdullahi Abubakar of APC, having satisfied the requirement by the law, is hereby declared the winner and returned elected,” the presiding officer declared.
Abaji Area Council was one of the areas that recorded a large voter turnout in the FCT election. Voting commenced as early as 8:00 a.m. in many polling units and, in some cases, continued until 6:30 p.m. due to the high turnout
Haruna Saidu, a voter at Polling Unit 004, UNG Hussaini Wanzami I in Abaji North-east Ward, told PREMIUM TIMES during the election that the community lacked potable water and electricity.
Mr Saidu, a truck driver, urged whoever emerged as chairman of the Abaji Area Council to prioritise the provision of potable water and electricity.
“We don’t have water in our streets and we don’t have electricity. We have been complaining about that for a long time but no changes. The government should look into it and help us,” he said.
Meanwhile, when Mr Abdullahi, the council chairman, arrived to vote at Polling Unit 015, UNG Hussaini Wanzami II in Abaji North-east Ward, he came in a convoy of six luxury vehicles, including a Range Rover Sport, Toyota Prado, Lexus SUV, Hilux, and GAC.
Victory in Abaji means the APC has now won in four of the six area councils where elections were held. The PDP has won in one while the result of the last area council (Kuje) was still being collated at the time of this report.
