{"id":195358,"date":"2026-02-18T19:43:39","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T18:43:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/fct-polls-vote-buying-wont-be-tolerated-inec-warns"},"modified":"2026-02-18T20:49:53","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T19:49:53","slug":"fct-polls-vote-buying-wont-be-tolerated-inec-warns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/fct-polls-vote-buying-wont-be-tolerated-inec-warns","title":{"rendered":"FCT polls: Vote buying won\u2019t be tolerated \u2013 INEC warns"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has warned that it would not tolerate vote buying in the February 21 Federal Capital Territory, FCT, area council elections.<\/p>\n

This is contained in a statement issued by INEC Chairman, Prof Joash Amupitan, on Wednesday in Abuja.<\/p>\n

Amupitan cautioned that anyone found culpable will be prosecuted.<\/p>\n

He told FCT residents that the election slated for February 21, 2026 will be peaceful, transparent and credible.<\/p>\n

More than 1.6 million registered voters will vote across 2,822 polling units, with 570 candidates contesting 68 seats.<\/p>\n

The INEC boss reiterated that elections are a shared responsibility and stressed that INEC has no preferred candidate.<\/p>\n

According to him, Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, will be deployed across polling units, and results will be uploaded to the INEC Result Viewing Portal, IREV.<\/p>\n

\u201cBVAS will be deployed in all polling units, with results uploaded to IReV. The Commission has accredited 89 observer groups and 700 journalists to monitor the process.<\/p>\n

\u201cSecurity agencies, including the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, will be on the ground to curb vote buying and ensure safety. Perpetrators of Vote-buying will be prosecuted,\u201d the statement read.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Nigeria<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Nigeria. The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has warned that it would not tolerate vote buying in the February 21 Federal Capital Territory, FCT, area council elections. This is contained in a statement issued by INEC Chairman, Prof Joash Amupitan, on Wednesday in Abuja. Amupitan cautioned that anyone found culpable will be prosecuted. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":195356,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,14],"tags":[254],"class_list":["post-195358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-nigeria"],"yoast_head":"\nFCT polls: Vote buying won\u2019t be tolerated \u2013 INEC warns - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has warned that it would not tolerate vote buying in the February 2 ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/fct-polls-vote-buying-wont-be-tolerated-inec-warns\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"FCT polls: Vote buying won\u2019t be tolerated \u2013 INEC warns\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has warned that it would not tolerate vote buying in the February 2 ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/fct-polls-vote-buying-wont-be-tolerated-inec-warns\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-18T18:43:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-18T19:49:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/sm_1771444102.826961.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/fct-polls-vote-buying-wont-be-tolerated-inec-warns#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/fct-polls-vote-buying-wont-be-tolerated-inec-warns\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"FCT polls: Vote buying won\u2019t be tolerated \u2013 INEC warns\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-18T18:43:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-18T19:49:53+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/fct-polls-vote-buying-wont-be-tolerated-inec-warns\"},\"wordCount\":214,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/fct-polls-vote-buying-wont-be-tolerated-inec-warns#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/sm_1771444102.826961.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Nigeria\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/fct-polls-vote-buying-wont-be-tolerated-inec-warns#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/fct-polls-vote-buying-wont-be-tolerated-inec-warns\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/fct-polls-vote-buying-wont-be-tolerated-inec-warns\",\"name\":\"FCT polls: Vote buying won\u2019t be tolerated \u2013 INEC warns - 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