Nasarawa North By-Election: Governor Sule Commends Process, Maku Raises Concerns Over Irregularities

The Nasarawa North Senatorial District by-election held on Saturday, 20th June 2026 have 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.

Voting at Polling Unit 002, Gudi Motor Park alongside his wives Hajiya Silifat Abdullahi Sule and Hajiya Farida Abdullahi Sule, the Governor said the election was one of the smoothest he had witnessed in recent years.

The governor told newsmen shortly after voting that he was satisfied with the accreditation and voting process.

“It’s been smoother than it ever has been for me. From the time I got my BVAS accreditation to casting my vote it took three to five minutes. Historically, this is the fastest I’ve seen,” 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 an opportunity 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 said.

But Maku, who voted at his polling unit in Wakama Ward, decried what he called the massive failure of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, in parts of the senatorial district.

The former minister admitted his own accreditation process went smoothly but said many voters were faced with problems and were left waiting for hours because of malfunctioning devices.

“A good number of people, the BVAS could not capture their fingerprints and they have been there waiting since morning,” alleged Maku.

He called on the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to deploy facial recognition technology as a backup where fingerprint verification fails, noting that voters’ photographs are already part of the electoral register.

The former minister alleged that similar technical problems were observed at several polling stations, such as Wamba Central and Wamba Clinic, where officials reportedly had difficulty fixing broken accreditation machines.

Maku also claimed some of the BVAS exhausted the internet data allocation after processing only a few voters.

“We had to volunteer data at my polling unit to INEC officials to help them continue with the accreditation process,” he said.

Aside from the technical issues, Maku said 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 he had concerns but added that voting was largely peaceful in many polling units but cautioned that tensions often arise during the collation phase.

“It is when the collation of results is being done that people bring in violence when they see they are not winning. “I want to appeal to the security agencies to ensure adequate protection during the movement and collation of election results,” he said.

Maku also attacked what he described as an increasing culture of “win-at-all-costs” politics, saying 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 enhanced if disputes were resolved on the merits of complaints rather than on technical legalities.

The by-election was to fill the Nasarawa North Senatorial seat which became vacant due to the death of Godiya Akwashiki.

As of 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.