The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has rejected claims that voters in Abuja were quietly reassigned to new polling units ahead of this month’s area council elections, insisting that no migration took place in 2026 and that the disputed changes date back four years.
In a statement on Tuesday, INEC said that the split polling units cited by opposition parties were created in February 2022 under a nationwide reform to expand voter access, not in the run-up to the 21 February 2026 vote in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Opposition parties had attributed voter apathy in the election to what they described as the relocation of polling units, claiming that some prospective voters returned home after failing to find their designated centres.
INEC, however, said the assertion was incorrect.
“There was no new voter migration in 2026,” said Adedayo Oketola, chief press secretary to the INEC chairman. “The split polling units referenced in recent discussions were created in February 2022 and not in 2026.”
The commission traced the development to its 2022 Expansion of Voters’ Access to Polling Units initiative, under which more than 56,000 additional polling units were created nationwide, increasing the total from 119,972 to over 176,000.
To populate the new units — many of which initially had no registered voters — INEC said 6.7 million voters were redistributed from roughly 12,000 congested polling units to about 17,000 less crowded ones across the country.
In the FCT alone, 411 polling units were decongested, with approximately 580,000 voters redistributed to 1,156 polling units, according to the commission.
INEC stressed that this redistribution occurred in 2022 and formed part of a broader administrative effort to reduce overcrowding at centres with more than 1,250 registered voters.
The so-called “split polling units”, it said, were additional voting points established only a few metres from the original locations and within the same premises, supported by separate BVAS devices to speed up accreditation and voting.
“The splitting of polling units did not alter voters’ registration status,” the statement said. “It merely redistributed voters within the same location for administrative efficiency.”
While maintaining that the February poll was conducted successfully, INEC acknowledged that some voters experienced difficulty locating their designated polling units on election day.
Between 18 and 21 February, the commission said it sent text messages and emails to affected voters to indicate their polling locations. It also urged citizens to verify their details in advance of elections and, where possible, visit their polling centres before voting day.
The dispute highlights persistent concerns about voter engagement and administrative transparency in Nigeria’s elections, particularly in urban centres such as Abuja, where turnout has fluctuated in recent cycles.
INEC said it remained committed to improving service delivery and encouraged voters to use its verification platforms to avoid future inconvenience.
