Yiaga Africa Flags Poor Voter Turnout, Late Poll Opening in FCT Council Elections

Speaking at a press conference in Abuja, Yiaga Africa’s Executive Director Samson Itodo said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) conducted the elections across six Area Councils, covering chairmanship positions and 62 councillorship seats. The organisation deployed trained observers across all 62 wards from as early as 7:30 a.m. to monitor proceedings from start to finish.

In areas like Wuse and Gwarinpa, some polling units had still not opened properly by 9:00 a.m., with officials seen arranging materials long after voting was supposed to begin. Accreditation and voting in many locations only got underway around 10:00 a.m., two hours behind the stipulated schedule. Observers also flagged missing voting cubicles and delays in distributing voter registers at certain centres.

Adding to the confusion, INEC’s redistribution of voters to newly created polling units caused significant disorientation. Although the commission sent SMS alerts to notify affected voters, many only received the messages on election day itself — leaving people scrambling to locate their polling units and creating congestion at some centres.