23 February, 2026
by Mohammed Bello Doka
The All Progressives Congress didn't just win the 2026 FCT Area Council Elections—they engineered a masterclass in democratic sabotage. With a paltry 13.7% voter turnout from 1,680,315 registered voters, APC scraped together a mere 126,386 votes across the six area councils to claim five chairmanships. That's not a mandate; that's a hijack. In a federation where democracy demands the people's voice, APC has perfected the art of ruling from the shadows of empty polling stations. This wasn't victory—it was a blueprint for 2027, where low turnout becomes their ultimate weapon, and the people's silence seals their fate.
Let's do the math that exposes their hollow triumph. Across 2,822 polling units in the FCT, APC deployed 11 executives per unit—a grassroots army of 31,042 loyalists. Add the 62 ward executives (1,054 strong), the six area council executives (102), and the FCT chapter's 17 top brass, and you have 32,215 party insiders supposedly mobilized for the win. Factor in over 1,000 registered APC support groups scattered across the territory, each a web of influencers, enforcers, and foot soldiers, and the total machinery swells into the tens of thousands. Yet, these "die-hards" couldn't even drag their own ranks to the polls! Subtract that bloated internal structure from APC's 126,386 votes, and what remains? A pathetic 94,171 "external" supporters. This is a party so disconnected from the masses that even its own foot soldiers stayed home. How does a behemoth with such resources secure power on fumes? By design.
I know this playbook intimately because I helped build it. As a founding member of the APC from the heady days of the 2012-2013 merger—when progressive forces united against tyranny—I stood shoulder-to-shoulder in the Alliance for Good Governance under the late Emma Ezeazu. I was in the merger committee deliberations for the FCT, hammering out strategies under the guidance of former Katsina State Governor Aminu Bello Masari. When APC stormed into power, I served as FCT Coordinator of the Buhari Media Advocates under the fiery leadership of Zara Onyinye. And when the baton passed, I launched the Tinubu Media Team in 2019, amplifying the vision from the streets of Abuja. Why I withdrew my support is a story for another day—but what I saw then, and what I've witnessed now, is a party that shed its progressive skin for raw, unadulterated power hunger.
This election laid bare APC's dirty tricks, unmasked for all to see. Rigging? It's their oxygen. Videos flooding social media from Kuchaku Polling Unit in Kuje show security agents unleashing teargas on voters, carting away result sheets mid-counting to "secure" them for the ruling party. In AMAC and beyond, altered result sheets—photocopied, scribbled over, and uploaded with glaring discrepancies—have gone viral, exposing the fraud in real time. Ballots vanished, BVAS machines "malfunctioned" at critical moments, and opposition agents were intimidated into silence. But APC's genius lies beyond brute force: they thrive on voter apathy. With turnout cratering to 13.7%—a death knell for democracy—they faced no real resistance. No throngs to overwhelm their vote-buying machines. No crowds to challenge their security proxies. Low turnout isn't a bug; it's their feature.
Every senior stakeholder with a functional bank account was embedded in APC's situation rooms— from the opulent halls of the National Headquarters in Abuja to the high-stakes Presidential Campaign Council nerve centers and the shadowy auxiliary rooms dotting the FCT. Billions flowed through those doors, greasing palms and silencing dissent. They knew the people wouldn't vote for them en masse. That's not their business. Low turnout plays straight into their cards: fewer eyes on the ballot boxes, easier to stuff, easier to steal. Opposition parties? They were outmaneuvered, outspent, and outgunned. But APC's celebration of this farce—President Tinubu hailing it as a "landslide," FCT Minister Nyesom Wike basking in the glow—reveals their true colors. A serious government would be in panic mode, convening emergency summits on voter apathy, reforming registration, mandating electronic transmission, and dragging turnout from the abyss. Instead, APC toasts the corpse of democracy, toasting their "win" while the nation rots.
And here's the cruelest trick of all: the money trap. APC dangles cash like candy—N1,000 here, N5,000 there—to lure voters. But the real game isn't getting you to vote APC. It's ensuring you take the bribe, stay silent, and slink away when the real rigging begins. Collect their dirty money, vote for whoever you want, but dare not confront the teargas squads or the altered sheets. That's how they win: by turning citizens into complicit ghosts.
This is APC's FCT playbook for 2027—a dangerous, power-hungry machine willing to hijack democracy by hook or by crook. They don't want the people; they want the throne. They don't crave legitimacy; they crave control. Unchecked, this apathy machine will swallow the general elections whole, turning Nigeria into a one-party fiefdom where votes are optional, but power is eternal.
To the opposition: Wake up! If the FCT Council Elections didn't hammer home the urgent need for unity, then forget 2027—and forget your freedom. PDP, ADC, Labour, NNPP, and the rest—merge, mobilize, or perish. Get the people out to vote in droves. Flood the streets. When thousands swarm the polling units, you can't buy them all. You can't intimidate them all with teargas and thugs. You can't rig in broad daylight. Unity isn't optional; it's survival.
Nigeria, the ballot boxes were empty this time. But the people's rage is filling up. The next election won't be won on silence. It will be won on a tsunami of votes—or lost to the abyss. The choice is ours. But APC? They're already counting on our absence. Don't let them.
Mohammed Bello Doka can be reached via [email protected]
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