The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has commenced the upload of results of Federal Capital Territory (FCT) area council polls on its results viewing portal (IReV).
The area council polls were conducted today, February 21, across the six area councils in the nation’s capital.
Checks of the IReV portalby TheCable show that results from polling units from the area councils have started trickling in, including those for chairmanship and councillorship.
As of 6:28:05 pm, 809 results out 1401, representing 57.74 percent from the Abuja municipal area council (AMAC) have been uploaded on the IReV.
TheCable also observed that some polling units’ results for by-elections in Kano and Rivers states have been uploaded on IReV.
The FCT area council elections are serving as a test-run for INEC ahead of the 2027 general election.
Last Wednesday, President Bola Tinubu signed the Electoral Act 2026 (amendment) bill into law.
The passage of the legislation at the senate and house of representatives sparked controversy and numerous talking points, especially the aspect of the real-time electronic transmission of election results.
When the house of representatives passed the Electoral Act in December 2025, it adopted a proposal mandating the real-time transmission of election results to the IReV.
However, when the senate passed the Electoral Act amendment bill in early February 2026, the proposal for real-time electronic transmission of election results was rejected — a move that has sparked protests and calls for lawmakers to reverse the decision.
Owing to the protests, the senaterescinded its decision and approved the electronic transmission of election results to IReV, with a clause that manual collation should serve as a fallback if technology fails.
Due to the differences, the senate and the house of representatives constituted a conference committee to harmonise the versions of the bill passed by both chambers.
The conference committee later adopted the version of the senate, which allows electronic transmission of election results and manual backup.
