In Nigeria, elections are our national sport. We queue, we argue, we speculate, we pray. And after the dust settles, we wait for the observers to tell us what just happened.
This time, it was Yiaga Africa that stepped forward with its report on the 2026 FCT Area Council elections. And as always, the real story was not just who won, but how the process behaved under the weight of our democratic expectations.
Let us examine it with the sobriety of constitutional law—and of lived experience.
The Promise of the Ballot
The Federal Capital Territory is not just another administrative unit. It is the symbolic heart of the Republic. If democracy cannot function smoothly in Abuja, surrounded by ministries, security agencies and constitutional lawyers, then one must ask: where exactly can it function?
Yiaga Africa’s observation mission deployed across polling units in the six Area Councils. Their findings, broadly speaking, highlighted familiar themes:
- Early arrivals of officials in some polling units.
- Delays in others.
- Logistical inconsistencies.
- Functioning technology in certain places.
- Malfunctioning devices in others.
- A generally peaceful atmosphere, punctuated by pockets of tension.
In other words: Nigeria held an election.
Logistics: The Achilles’ Heel of Nigerian Democracy
One would think that after decades of electoral exercises, moving ballot papers from Point A to Point B would no longer qualify as an Olympic event.
Yet reports of late openings and uneven distribution of materials remain a structural weakness. Elections are administrative exercises governed by statute. Under the Electoral Act framework, timelines are not decorative suggestions; they are mandatory procedural safeguards.
When polling units open late, the right to vote is not merely inconvenienced—it is compressed. Time lost is participation denied.
Yiaga’s observations reinforce what election scholars have long argued: procedural integrity matters as much as outcome legitimacy. A winner crowned through chaotic administration inherits suspicion alongside victory.
Technology: The Beautiful, Fragile Hope
The deployment of accreditation technology once again demonstrated its dual personality.
Where devices functioned properly, accreditation was smoother, disputes fewer, and transparency stronger. Where devices malfunctioned, we returned—almost nostalgically—to manual improvisation.
Nigeria’s technological reforms in elections have always resembled a Shakespearean romance: full of promise, drama, and occasional tragedy.
The issue is not whether technology should be used. That debate is settled. The issue is consistency. Democratic trust cannot depend on battery life.
Peaceful… But Not Perfect
Yiaga Africa noted that the elections were largely peaceful. This is significant. In a country where electoral violence has historically stained ballots with more than ink, peaceful conduct deserves acknowledgement.
But peaceful does not automatically mean credible.
Democracy is not merely the absence of gunshots; it is the presence of procedural fairness. A calm irregularity is still an irregularity.
The Voter Apathy Question
Perhaps the most telling observation was turnout. Local government elections, especially in the FCT, continue to suffer from subdued voter enthusiasm.
Why?
Because many citizens have internalised a dangerous assumption: local councils lack real power. When governance is excessively centralised, voters rationally conclude that local ballots produce minimal consequence.
The irony is cruel. The level of government closest to the people often commands the least public engagement.
And so polling units look orderly—not because of efficiency—but because half the neighbourhood stayed home.
Institutional Performance: INEC Under the Microscope
Although the FCT elections are conducted within Nigeria’s federal electoral structure, each exercise becomes a referendum on institutional capacity.
Election management bodies do not merely conduct elections; they manufacture legitimacy.
Yiaga Africa’s methodical observation—parallel vote tabulation, field reporting, data verification—exists precisely because trust must be independently audited.
That a civic organisation must statistically verify electoral processes is not an indictment of democracy. It is a feature of a maturing one.
But the need for constant verification tells us something profound: trust is still conditional.
The Legal Lens
From a jurisprudential standpoint, elections are administrative actions subject to constitutional scrutiny. The right to vote and be voted for is fundamental. Where logistics falter or procedures diverge from statutory prescriptions, grounds for petition quietly accumulate.
However, Nigerian electoral litigation has taught politicians an important lesson: irregularities must be substantial and outcome-determinative.
In plain English: unless the mistake changed the result, the result stands.
Thus, small administrative failures persist—not because they are acceptable—but because they are survivable.
Democracy as Performance
Elections in Nigeria often feel theatrical. Officials display order. Parties declare confidence. Observers publish recommendations. Winners celebrate. Losers consult lawyers.
Then we reset for the next cycle.
Yiaga Africa’s report, stripped of diplomatic phrasing, says what many reports before it have said:
- Progress exists.
- Weaknesses remain.
- Institutional reform is incomplete.
- Citizen participation needs revival.
- Consistency is lacking.
It is less a condemnation and more a diagnosis.
The Bigger Question
The 2026 FCT local council elections were not catastrophic. They were not revolutionary. They were not historic.
They were something more dangerous: normal.
And perhaps that is the most sobering conclusion. Nigeria has normalised administrative inconsistency. We accept partial efficiency as progress. We applaud the absence of chaos as excellence.
But democracy is not a “well, at least nobody died” standard.
It is a rule-of-law standard.
Until elections in the capital city run with clockwork precision—uniform opening times, seamless technology, transparent collation, enthusiastic turnout—we remain in the middle chapter of democratic development.
Yiaga Africa has once again held up the mirror. The reflection is not ugly. But it is not yet admirable.
And in a constitutional republic, “almost credible” should never be the ceiling.
It should be the warning.
Centre for Nigeria Progress 