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By Lawrence Agbo
On Saturday, February 21, 2026, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is scheduled to hold its first major event under the recently passed law.
The Commission will preside over the Federal Capital Territory FCT Area Council elections as well as crucial bye-elections in Rivers and Kano States as an evaluation for the Electoral Act 2026, which President Bola Tinubu just signed into law.
According to INEC Chairman Professor Joash Amupitan, SAN, 1,680,315 registered voters from 2,822 polling places spread across all six Area Councils will participate in the FCT elections.
At the same time, the Commission will hold bye-elections in Kano State for the Kano Municipal and Ungogo State Constituencies and in Rivers State for the Ahoada East II and Khana II State Constituencies.
The Commission now has to make real-time modifications to a number of high-stakes changes brought about by the 2026 Electoral Act. The statutory entrenchment of the Election Results Viewing Portal (IReV) and the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) is key.
Observers see this weekend’s elections as an opener to the general elections in 2027, since the FCT elections are the only local government-level surveys that INEC directly conducts.
Mock accreditation exercises have already been completed by the Commission in a few polling places to make sure the updated electronic transmission methods and BVAS hardware are prepared for the demands of a live contest.
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The results will be “transmitted,” but not “in real time,” according to the statement.
Before this, INEC denied rumours that the results of the elections for the FCT Area Council on February 21 would be announced in “real-time.”
The Commission warned that such terms are a technical misrepresentation of its established procedures in a statement released in Abuja on Wednesday by Adedayo Oketola, the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman.
The explanation came when INEC Chairman Prof. Joash Amupitan, SAN, recently inspected election readiness in the Kuje, Gwagwalada, and Bwari Area Councils.
The Commission claims that although Prof. Amupitan acknowledged that technology will continue to play a significant role in the forthcoming elections, he avoided using the term “real-time” in his interviews with the media.
The Commission pointed out that the word suggests a real-time, simultaneous transmission of votes as they are cast, which is not supported by the Commission’s operational guidelines or the existing legislative framework.
The Commission clarified the specifics of the Chairman’s comments by stating that Prof. Amupitan was answering questions on INEC’s technological efforts.
