Oladunjoye: INEC Absolutely Ready For February 21 FCT Space Council Elections

FCT INEC Administrative Secretary, Abimbola Oladunjoye, says the Unbiased Nationwide Electoral Fee (INEC) is totally ready for the February 21, 2026 Space Council elections within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

In an interview with ARISE Information on Monday, Oladunjoye stated the Fee had concluded just about all preparations for the polls throughout the six Space Councils, 62 wards and a pair of,822 polling models.

“I’ll let you know that we’re very prepared for the election come Saturday, twenty first February, 2026,” he stated. “We’re just about accomplished with all the things we have to do for the election. Proper now, we’ve acquired all our non-sensitive supplies. Every part has been batched and despatched to the Space Councils.”

He disclosed that delicate supplies could be collected from the Central {Bank} of Nigeria (CBN) forward of the election and transported on to the Space Councils.

“By Thursday morning, we’ll be on the CBN to select up our delicate supplies and we’ll transfer them straight to the Space Councils. So we’re just about prepared. The registers of voters have been printed for the election. BIVAS has been configured. We’ve accomplished coaching of our ballot officers. So I believe all the things is okay,” Oladunjoye added.

On the deployment of know-how, significantly the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BIVAS), Oladunjoye stated the Fee carried out a mock accreditation and election course of two weeks in the past to check the system.

“Two weeks in the past, we had our know-how examined. We had a mock accreditation and election course of the place the BIVAS was put to check and it labored very, very nicely,” he stated.

“In actual fact, it labored — it was excellent. It was 99.9% good, I have to say. It labored very nicely. The few challenges we had weren’t in regards to the know-how; it was somewhat in regards to the course of.”

He defined that the primary subject noticed throughout the mock train was that some voters have been uncertain of their designated polling models.

“As a result of we realised that some voters within the metropolis didn’t know precisely the place their polling models are. We had the mock election in simply 239 polling models, so individuals got here there with their playing cards and wished to be a part of the method. However as a result of their names weren’t in these specific polling models, they may not check the system throughout the course of. In order that was a problem we noticed.”

To deal with this, INEC will publish the voters’ register at polling models forward of election day.

“Within the subsequent few days, we’ll have the register of voters for each polling unit within the metropolis pasted. We’re going to stick the register days earlier than the election so that folks can go and examine and establish the actual polling models the place they belong.”

He additionally urged voters to reap the benefits of INEC’s on-line portal.

“We even have know-how that can be utilized to confirm and know your polling unit. That’s cvr.inecnigeria.org/pu. Visiting there’ll take you to your polling unit and present you on Google Map the place your PU is. So it’s going to be straightforward. We would like all people to truly establish their PU. That was the one factor we noticed throughout the mock election.”

On voter participation, Oladunjoye acknowledged that turnout developments stay low, hovering round 10 per cent of registered voters.

The FCT at present has about 1.6 million registered voters.

“What we often observe — the pattern has all the time been like 10% of the present registration figures. Ten per cent of that determine is what we truly count on,” he stated.

“It’s truly slightly beneath 10% registration that we had over the past election. Within the final election, it was about 10%. So nothing has actually modified in the case of voters displaying curiosity within the election. We’ve not had something greater than what we often have.”

Regardless of the modest turnout projections, Oladunjoye stated INEC has intensified voter schooling and stakeholder engagement to construct public confidence within the electoral course of.

“We’ve been doing numerous engagement within the FCT to make sure that individuals know that their votes rely and for them to know that with know-how and with the improved processes that we’ve got, that the votes will maintain counting,” he stated.

“We’ve been assembly with youth organisations and youth {groups} within the FCT. We’ve been assembly with individuals with disabilities. We’ve had conferences with just about each sector of the neighborhood. We’ve been telling them the election will go free — freed from rigging, in the event you like.”

With preparations in high gear, Oladunjoye expressed confidence that the February 21 Space Council elections could be carried out easily throughout the FCT.

Boluwatife Enome 

Times Nigeria