Nigeria’s election body, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), says it is stepping up preparations for the 2026 Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Area Council elections, warning that misinformation now poses a major threat to electoral integrity.
The commission made the remarks at a forum for media executives, reporters and broadcasters held in Abuja ahead of the polls.
Speaking at the event, the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for the FCT, Aminu Kasimu Idris, said elections were no longer contested only at polling units but also in the information space. He warned that fake news, manipulated videos and unverified reports could undermine public trust and increase tensions.
Mr Idris said the forum was organised to strengthen cooperation between INEC and the media, align expectations and reinforce professional standards in election reporting, particularly in the digital age where information spreads rapidly.
He confirmed that ward-level collection of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) took place between 22 and 26 January 2026, while collection continues at INEC offices across the six Area Councils until 10 February.
INEC will also conduct a mock voter accreditation exercise in 289 polling units across the FCT to test election technologies ahead of the vote. Posters will be displayed in affected locations to guide voters.
In his opening address, INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, Mohammed Kudu Haruna, said the commission had procured nearly all non-sensitive materials, already sorted according to the six Area Councils, 62 wards and 2,822 polling units.
He added that the printing of sensitive materials — including ballot papers and result sheets — was on track and could be completed ahead of schedule. These materials are expected to be received from the Central Bank of Nigeria’s FCT branch on 18 February, in the presence of party representatives, security agencies, civil society groups and the media.
Mr Haruna said polls would open at 8:30am on 21 February.
He also announced that while the observers’ accreditation portal had closed, processing of field officers’ details was ongoing. Media organisations, however, have until 8 February to complete accreditation.
The Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in the FCT, Grace Ike, warned that elections were increasingly “won and lost in the information space”, noting that disinformation often spreads faster than verified facts.
She urged journalists to uphold accuracy, fairness and balance, and called for guarantees for the safety of reporters covering the elections, warning that the union would not tolerate harassment or denial of access.
Representing the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), Vice President Emmanuel Dandaura described the forum as vital to protecting democracy, saying public confidence depends not only on technical efficiency but on credible communication.
INEC’s Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Victoria Eta-Messi, said elections begin with information rather than on polling day itself. She said the engagement aimed to clarify INEC’s processes, timelines, legal framework and the use of technology such as the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the Result Viewing Portal (IREV).
In a presentation on misinformation, the INEC Chairman’s Chief Press Secretary, Adebayo Oketola, said modern election threats now include fake result sheets, edited videos and coordinated online campaigns. He described public trust as the most fragile asset in the electoral process.
INEC’s Head of ICT and Voter Registry in the FCT, Festus Aisen, outlined the role of BVAS and IREV in preventing multiple voting and improving transparency.
On the legal framework, the Head of Legal Services, Rosemary Elachi, stressed that journalists covering elections must understand the Constitution, the Electoral Act 2022 and INEC’s guidelines, which all carry legal authority.
Meanwhile, the Head of Electoral Operations, Akin Thomas Folasade, said accreditation and voting would begin simultaneously at 8:30am and end at 2:30pm. She added that only voters registered in a polling unit would be allowed to vote there and outlined measures to prevent fraud and impersonation.
The forum concluded with an interactive session moderated by INEC’s Deputy Director of Publicity in the FCT, Wilfred Ifogah, during which participants raised questions on accreditation, technology deployment and election procedures.
