What the 2026 FCT elections reveal about Nigeria’s democracy

When the Independent National Electoral Commission released the final list of candidates for the 2026 Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Area Council elections, it did more than kick-start another local poll. It quietly exposed a deeper and more uncomfortable truth about Nigeria’s democracy: while young people and women are encouraged to participate, they are rarely allowed to lead.

Across the six area councils — Abaji, AMAC, Bwari, Gwagwalada, Kuje and Kwali; hundreds of candidates are contesting for chairmanships, vice-chairmanships and councillors seats. On the surface, this looks like a vibrant democratic exercise. But a closer look at the data tells a different story.

In three of the councils; Bwari, Gwagwalada and Kwali; not a single woman is running for chairman. Across the FCT, women make up a small fraction of candidates for the two most powerful positions in local government: chairman and vice-chairman. Where women do appear, they are overwhelmingly listed as deputies, not principals.

Young people face a similar pattern. They make up a large share of councillorship candidates across the FCT, often more than half in some councils. Yet at the executive level, they almost disappear. In Gwagwalada, for instance, fewer than one in ten candidates for chairman or vice-chairman is a young person.

This is not because young people or women are unwilling to contest. They are running. They are organising. They are mobilising voters. What they are not getting is access to the tickets that matter.

Local governments are not ceremonial institutions. They are responsible for primary healthcare, basic education, sanitation, markets, transport and community infrastructure. These are the services that affect people’s daily lives. When women and young people are excluded from the leadership of these councils, the decisions taken rarely reflect the realities of the majority.

The usual explanation for this imbalance is that Nigeria is still grappling with cultural barriers and limited political awareness. But the 2026 FCT data points to a more concrete problem: political parties.

There is nothing in Nigeria’s laws that prevents women from running for chairman or young people from leading councils. The barriers are inside the parties high nomination fees, opaque primaries, entrenched godfather networks and leadership structures that reward loyalty over competence. Parties routinely field women and young people where they are unlikely to win, while reserving the most competitive and powerful positions for established insiders.

The result is a two-tier system. At the bottom are youth and women, visible in ward-level contests and campaign rallies. At the top are a small group of older politicians who continue to control access to power.

This is not just a question of fairness. It is a question of governance. Councils that do not reflect the communities they serve are less likely to design policies that work. Excluding women and young people from leadership weakens accountability and limits innovation in a country that desperately needs both.

The FCT is Nigeria’s capital. If inclusion cannot be achieved here, it is unlikely to happen elsewhere. That makes these elections a test case for the country’s democratic future.

Political parties, electoral authorities, civil society and lawmakers must stop treating inclusion as a slogan. It must become a rule. Quotas for women and young people on executive tickets, caps on nomination fees, and transparent primaries are not radical ideas. They are the minimum standards for a modern democracy.

The 2026 FCT elections have shown that participation is not the problem. Young people and women are already in the arena. The problem is that Nigeria’s political system still decides, long before election day, who is allowed to win.

Until that changes, the promise of democracy will remain unfulfilled; not just in Abuja, but across the country.

Olasupo Abideen Opeyemi can be reached via  [email protected].

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