By Nchetachi Chukwuajah
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has published and presented the revised Register of Voters for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) ahead of the February 21 Area Council Election.
According to a statement released by the INEC Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Mrs Victoria Eta-Messi, on Wednesday, January 14, the total number of registered voters increased to 1,680,315.
Eta-Messi stated that the presentation took place in Abuja, during a stakeholders’ meeting with political parties.
She added that during the meeting, the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for the FCT, Malam Aminu Idris, described the exercise as a critical constitutional requirement in the Commission’s preparations for the election.
The REC recalled that INEC resumed the nationwide Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise on August 18, 2025, beginning with online pre-registration and followed by physical registration nationwide from September 29, 2025.
He noted that in compliance with Section 9(6) of the Electoral Act, 2022, the CVR was suspended in the FCT on October 12, 2025, to allow the Commission to revise the Register of Voters for the Area Council Election.
“The revision process, carried out pursuant to Section 10(6) of the Electoral Act, involved biometric de-duplication of the register, its display for claims and objections, and the compilation of a supplementary list arising from the exercise,” he said.
The FCT REC disclosed that the revised register now supersedes all previous registers.
“The total number of registered voters in the FCT increased from 1,570,307 recorded in 2023 to 1,680,315, adding that detailed statistics were made available to political parties at the meeting,” the statement added.
Idris further briefed stakeholders on the Commission’s level of preparedness for the February 21, 2026, Area Council Election, which will fill 62 councillorship seats and six chairmanship positions across the FCT.
He said INEC had already undertaken some activities ahead of the election, including the monitoring of party primaries, publication of final lists of candidates, commencement of campaign monitoring, receipt of non-sensitive materials, activation of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, voter education and sensitisation, stakeholder engagement, and collaboration with security agencies through the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security.
In a related development, INEC has resumed the CVR exercise in Anambra State.
The CVR exercise was suspended on July 20, 2025, to enable the Commission to clean up the voters’ register, as well as produce and distribute PVC s ahead of the November 8, 2025, governorship election in the state.
