The All Progressives Congress (APC) has retained the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) chairmanship seat in the 2026 Federal Capital Territory (FCT) area council election, while the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won the Gwagwalada chairmanship.
In AMAC, INEC’s collation officer, Andrew Abue, declared incumbent chairman Christopher Maikalangu of the APC winner after he polled 40,295 votes out of 62,861 valid ballots.
The candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Paul Moses scored 12,109 votes, while the PDP candidate secured 3,398 votes.
PDP Wins Gwagwalada
In Gwagwalada, INEC returning officer Philip Akpen declared Mohammed Kasim of the PDP chairman-elect.
Kasim polled 22,165 votes to defeat APC’s Yahaya Shehu, who garnered 17,788 votes. The candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) came third with 1,687 votes.
Low Voter Turnout
The election recorded low voter turnout across the six area councils in the Federal Capital Territory.
Yiaga Africa, a civil society organisation, reported generally low participation in most polling units.
According to the group, many polling units recorded less than 30 percent turnout.
Allegations of Irregularities
Some parties and observers alleged irregularities during the exercise.
There were reports of vote-buying in parts of Gwagwalada.
Some party agents also alleged discrepancies between polling unit results and ward collation figures.
The ADC accused certain security operatives of colluding with APC agents in parts of AMAC.
Opposition figures called for an examination of data on INEC’s Result Viewing Portal (IReV), alleging possible tampering during transmission.
However, INEC said the election was largely peaceful and orderly.
