The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), on Saturday, arrested 20 suspects for sundry electoral offences in during the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) area council elections.
The February 2026 FCT area council elections were conducted across the six councils of the FCT on Saturday.
The six area councils are Abaji, Bwari, Gwagwalada, Kwali, Kuje and the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC). Five of the area councils have 10 wards each, while AMAC has 12.
The EFCC announced in a statement by its spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, on Sunday, thee arrest of suspects for vote buying involving over N17 million, among other electoral offences.
“The suspects were arrested across the FCT for offences ranging from vote buying and vote selling to obstruction of officers, involving the sum of N17,218,700,” the statement said.
It added that five of the suspects were arrested in Kwali, including one arrested with a sum of N13.5 million in a car parked beside a polling booth in the Kwali area council.
“Two others were arrested in Abaji, nine in Gwagwalada and four in Kuje.”
The statement did not share the names of the suspects or the political parties to which they were still affiliated.
But Mr Oyewale said the suspects will be charged in court upon the conclusion of investigations.
PREMIUM TIMES reported that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced winners across the councils.
The All Progressives Congress, APC, secured victory in five of the six area councils: AMAC, Abaji, Bwari, Kwali and Kuje: consolidating its hold on the territory.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won only in the Gwagwalada area council.
READ ALSO: Abuja elections concluded: APC wins five of six council areas
Yiaga Africa, an election monitoring group, which deployed observers across the 62 wards of the FCT to monitor the polls, acknowledged the peaceful conduct of the election. However, it said there was a general low turnout.
Even though there was a heavy security presence across the capital city, Yiaga flagged isolated cases of vote buying and early closure of exercises in some locations.
The group said logistical challenges significantly affected the timely commencement of voting, particularly in the AMAC. Delays in deploying personnel and materials led to late openings at several polling units, especially in Wuse and Gwarinpa wards.
It also raised concerns about missing elections materials and reassignment of voters to newly created polling units without proper notification. This, it said, resulted in overcrowding in some polling units.
