Yiaga Africa, a civil society organisation (CSO), has raised concerns over intimidation, logistical delays, and disruptions during the ward-level collation of results in Saturday’s Federal Capital Territory (FCT) area council elections.
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In a statement issued on Sunday and signed by Samson Itodo, its executive director, and Cynthia Mbamalu, director of programmes, the CSO said observations were based on data collected from observers in 58 of the 62 ward collation centres across the FCT.
“Ward collation commenced between 4:00 pm and 6:00 pm in 66% of the collation centres observed. An additional 10% began between 6:00 pm and 9:00 pm, while 3% commenced between 9:00 pm and midnight,” the statement reads.
“In Kuje Central and Kabi wards of Kuje area council, collation did not begin until the following morning.”
The CSO identified the primary causes of delay as late arrival of materials from polling units, absence of collation at designated times, logistical failures in transporting sensitive materials, and reported intimidation of officials by political thugs.
According to the CSO, 80 percent of the centres publicly displayed the notice of results poster (Form EC60E) for chairmanship elections.
The organisation noted that party agents were asked to countersign result forms in 95 percent of centres, with varying compliance across parties: ADC agents in 88 percent, APC in 93 percent, PDP in 91 percent, and SDP in 59 percent.
Yiaga said its observers reported several incidents of intimidation and violence across multiple ward collation centres.
“At the Zuba Ward Collation Centre in Gwagwalada, a disturbance occurred after the completion of polling unit result collation,” the CSO said.
“Party agents were invited to countersign the result sheets when an exchange of words broke out between a party agent and INEC officials. Tensions escalated, and security agents discharged tear gas to disperse the crowd.”
At Ashara Ward in Kwali, Yiaga said community members rejected the announced results, leading to unrest and vandalism of two vehicles believed to belong to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
It added that in Kuje central, suspected political thugs disrupted collation, causing result sheets to be removed and forcing officials to relocate the process.
The CSO commended INEC officials who conducted collation despite intimidation and attacks, as well as citizens who upheld electoral procedures.
Yiaga noted that while the Electoral Act 2026 mandates electronic transmission via the INEC result viewing portal (IReV), temporary downtime during uploads caused public suspicion.
“As of 4:30 pm on Sunday, 2,641 chairmanship results and 2,542 councillorship results out of 2,822 polling units had been uploaded to the IReV portal, representing approximately 94% (chairmanship results) and 90% (councillorship results) upload rates, respectively,” it said.
Yiaga Africa recommended that INEC strengthen deployment planning, logistics, voter redistribution communication, and collation procedures ahead of upcoming elections.
“The 2026 FCT Local Government Elections reaffirm that ward-level collation remains the most vulnerable and most consequential stage of Nigeria’s electoral process,” the organisation said.
“Ahead of the Ekiti and Osun gubernatorial elections and the 2027 general elections, INEC should strengthen its election deployment planning and logistics management to ensure timely deployment of materials and personnel and effective communication to voters on polling unit redistribution.”
The CSO also called on security agencies to investigate collusion with political thugs and ensure prosecution of perpetrators of violence.
Political parties were urged to train agents on legal rights, refrain from deploying thugs near collation centres, and prioritise voter mobilisation and civic education.
The recommendations come as Nigeria prepares for upcoming gubernatorial elections in Ekiti and Osun states, as well as the 2027 general elections, with electoral stakeholders seeking to address systemic vulnerabilities in the collation process.
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