A coalition Civil society organisations, CSOs has commended the conduct of the Abuja Municipal Area Council, AMAC, chairmanship election, describing the exercise as peaceful and largely orderly, as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Christopher Maikalangu, emerged winner.
Addressing journalists during press briefing on Tuesday in Abuja, the spokesman of the group, Prince Boluwasi Adeyemi, said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) conducted elections on February 21, 2026, for the six area council chairmanship positions and 62 councillorship seats in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
He said the CSOs deployed trained and accredited observers across polling units in AMAC to monitor the process, including the opening of polls, accreditation, voting, counting and collation of results.
According to him, observers arrived as early as 7:10am to assess the opening procedures, adding that although voter turnout was generally low in most polling units visited, the election was largely peaceful, allowing voters to cast their ballots without widespread disruption.
Adeyemi said the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) functioned effectively in most polling units, while voters’ registers and election materials were available. He added that INEC’s conduct of the election showed improvement compared to previous exercises, with cases of vote-buying and criminal incidents reported to be minimal.
On security, the CSOs commended the police, civil defence and other security agencies for displaying professionalism and neutrality, noting that political parties and their supporters also avoided actions capable of disrupting the process.
On the collation of results, the group said sorting and counting commenced after voting concluded in most polling units, describing the exercise as peaceful. Among the 16 political parties that contested the election, the CSOs said the top results showed that the African Democratic Congress (ADC) scored 12,109 votes, the APC scored 40,295 votes, the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) scored 1,694 votes, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) scored 3,398 votes, while the Social Democratic Party (SDP) scored 2,185 votes.
“At the end of it all, the APC candidate, Christopher Maikalangu, having scored the highest number of votes, was declared winner,” the CSOs said.
While responding to questions from journalists, Adeyemi attributed the low voter turnout to voter apathy and the mindset among some residents that their votes do not count, despite the number of registered voters and those who had collected their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs). He said with the use of technology and improved procedures, it had become difficult to manipulate the process, adding that the introduction of electronic transmission of results would further improve the electoral process.
He urged residents to have confidence in the system and come out to vote in future elections without fear, noting that the AMAC poll showed that elections can be free, fair and credible.
The CSOs, in their recommendations, called on INEC to improve logistics and ensure earlier commencement of polls in future elections. They also urged the commission to ensure proper configuration of accreditation devices and better training of poll officials on the use of the BVAS, as well as to intensify voter education to raise public awareness.
They further called on political parties to engage more actively in voter mobilisation to address the trend of declining turnout and urged security agencies to continue to build on recent gains by remaining professional in their conduct during elections.
They CSOs said the election was generally peaceful across the 12 wards in AMAC, with voters able to exercise their civic duties without conflict, adding that the overall conduct of the election was well accepted by residents of the area council.
