By Ghazali Ibrahim
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has won three of the declared results in the 2026 Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Area Council elections, while the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) clinched victory in Gwagwalada with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) still to announce results for the remaining two councils.
On Sunday, INEC declared APC candidates winners in the chairmanship elections for Bwari, Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) and Kwali Area Council. In Bwari, Joshua Ishaku of the APC emerged victorious after scoring the highest votes across all wards.
In the capital’s central council, Christopher Maikalangu of the APC was confirmed as the winner of the AMAC chairmanship race, amassing more than 40,000 votes to defeat challengers from other parties.
APC also triumphed in Kwali, where its candidate secured over 17,000 votes, outshining the PDP contender, according to INEC’s collation.
In Abaji Area Council, Umar Abdullahi Abubakar of the APC was declared winner.
According to results announced on Sunday by INEC Presiding Officer, Abubakar polled a total of 15,535 votes to defeat his closest rival from the Young Progressives Party (YPP) who secured 5,357 votes.
In Gwagwalada Area Council, the PDP’s Mohammed Kasim defeated the APC’s Yahaya Shehu with about 22,165 votes to 17,788, a result declared as peaceful by election officials.
Despite these declarations, INEC officials say results for the remaining area councils which is Kuje has not yet been finalised and are still being collated before official announcement.
The FCT Area Council elections, conducted on Saturday, February 21, 2026, saw residents across the six councils cast ballots to elect chairmen and councillors.
Early reports noted low voter turnout in many polling units, though observers said the overall process was largely peaceful.
As the electoral body finalises the outstanding results, political stakeholders are monitoring developments closely, viewing the outcomes as an indicator of party strength ahead of future national elections.
