FCT election: APC, ADC prepare for victory battle ahead of Feb 21
File: Voters checking their names ahead of voting
Election will be held across the six area councils, 62 wards and 2,822 polling units in Abuja.
The All Progressives Congress, APC on Friday appointed four governors to lead its 137-member National Campaign Council for the forthcoming 2026 Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Area Councils Elections
The Campaign Council which was inaugurated by the National Chairman of APC Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda has as chairman governor of Kwara State, Alh. AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq who is also Chairman, Nigeria Governors’ Forum. The governor of Imo State who is also the Chairman, Progressives Governors’ Forum, Mai Mala Buni of Yobe and Mohammed Umar Bago were announced as the co-chairpersons of the APC National Campaign Council during the inauguration held at the APC National Secretariat, Abuja.
Also, the Speaker of House of Representative, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu was announced as the secretary of the campaign Council tasked with the task of coordinating and driving the Party’s campaign activities ahead of the FCT Area Councils Elections.
Analysts said the deployment of the four governors is indicative of the seriousness with which the party is approaching the election.
The FCT Area Council election is unique as it is conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC. This gave the election a veneer of creditability unlike the council elections in the states of the federation conducted by State Electoral Commissions, SIECs that will always return overwhelming victory for the governing party.
The battle for the FCT Area Councils has always been between the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and the As APC especially since 2015.
But while some PDP candidates have been campaigning for the election across the wards and council areas of the territory, analysts said battle in the 2026 election will be between the ruling APC and the opposition coalition African Democratic Congress, ADC.
Chieftains of ADC, including the presidential aspirants – Peter Obi, Atiku Abubakar and Rotimi Amaechi have been joining the campaign of ADC for the election, especially in the Abuja Municipal Council Area.
Just as they are eager to use the outcome of the election to demonstrate their might against the APC ahead of the 2027 election, the presidential aspirants are also using their participation in the campaign as a way of buying their ways into the hearts of the teeming supporters of the party.
Victory for ADC candidates in the FCT Area Council election will no doubt boost their confidence of supporters of the party and further convince Nigerians still playing doubting Thomases of the capability of the opposition to displace APC as Nigeria’s ruling party in the 2027 election.
However, victory for the APC candidates will further boost the confidence of the ruling party ahead of the general election and will also confirm the assertions by some of the chieftains of the party that the opposition as coalesced in ADC is all noise and no grit.
This is more so given the fact that failure to secure 25 per cent of the votes in the FCT was one of the grounds that the opposition candidates, including Atiku and Obi had asked the Supreme Court to annul the victory of APC in the 2023 presidential election.
Hence, it was not a surprise that the APC National Chairman described the FCT council election as a strategic political contest that required unity, coordination and effective grassroots mobilisation across the six area councils during the inauguration of the party’s national campaign council on Friday.
Yilwatda said the Area Council election presented an opportunity for the APC to reclaim lost ground and consolidate the party’s dominance in the FCT.
The February 21 election will be held across the six area councils, 62 wards and 2,822 polling units with over 1.6 million registered voters who will determine the fate of the parties ahead of the 2027 general election.
