The Nasarawa North Senatorial District by-election conducted on Saturday, 20th June 2026 has generated mixed reactions from major political stakeholders as Governor Abdullahi Sule hailed the exercise, while former Minister of Information, Labaran Maku accused the election of irregularities and technical hitches in some polling units.
The Governor, who voted at Polling Unit 002, Gudi Motor Park alongside his wives Hajiya Silifat Abdullahi Sule and Hajiya Farida Abdullahi Sule, said the election was one of the smoothest he had witnessed in recent years.
The governor, speaking to journalists shortly after the voting, expressed satisfaction with the accreditation and voting process.
“For me, it’s been smoother than it ever has been. It took three to five minutes from BVAS accreditation to casting my vote. This is the quickest I’ve ever seen it in the history books,” he said.
Sule also dismissed suggestions that the by-election would be a test of his political clout ahead of the 2027 general elections, insisting that the contest was more a test of the popularity and performance of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.
“It is a chance for the people of Nasarawa North to say thank you to APC. “We are going to see a ‘thank you’ result by the grace of God,” he added.
However, Maku, who voted at his polling unit in Wakama Ward, lamented what he termed widespread failures of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, in parts of the senatorial district.
The ex-minister said his own accreditation process was smooth, but many voters had problems and waited hours due to faulty equipment.
“A good number of people, the BVAS could not capture their fingerprints and they have been there waiting since morning,” Maku alleged.
He called on the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to use facial recognition technology where fingerprint verification fails, pointing out that voters’ photographs are already in the electoral register.
The former minister also claimed that similar technical issues were witnessed at multiple polling stations, including Wamba Central and Wamba Clinic, where officials allegedly struggled to repair malfunctioning accreditation machines.
Maku also alleged that some of the BVAS ran out of their internet data allocation after processing just a few voters.
“We had to volunteer data at my polling unit to INEC officials to help them continue the accreditation process,” he said.
Aside from the technical issues, Maku claimed there were reports of thumbprinting of ballot papers in some communities, such as Alushi and Wacho, but no official confirmation had been made by the electoral authorities by the time this report was filed.
The former minister said although he had concerns, voting was largely peaceful in many polling units but cautioned that tensions often arise during the collation phase.
He said it is during the collation of results that people introduce violence when they see they are not winning and urged security agencies to ensure adequate protection during the movement and collation of election results.
Maku also attacked what he described as an increasing culture of “win-at-all-costs” politics, stating that elected governments should win based on their performance and development records, not political manipulation.
He said public confidence in the electoral process would be strengthened if disputes were decided on the merits of complaints rather than on technical legalities.
The by-election was held to fill the vacant Nasarawa North Senatorial seat left behind by the death of Godiya Akwashiki.
As at the time of this report, the Independent National Electoral Commission had not officially reacted to the allegations of BVAS malfunction or other reported irregularities as collation of results continued.