Voting commenced peacefully across the Nasarawa North Senatorial District on Saturday as residents trooped out to elect a new senator, with major candidates expressing divergent views over the conduct of the exercise.
While the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Hon. Danladi Halilu Envulanza, hailed the process as peaceful and orderly, the Labour Party (LP) candidate and former Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, raised concerns over alleged electoral irregularities, malfunctioning BVAS machines and reports of ballot manipulation in some communities.
Our correspondent, who monitored the by-election across parts of the district, observed that voters turned out peacefully to cast their ballots without major incidents in most polling units visited.
Speaking shortly after voting in Nasarawa-Eggon Local Government Area, Envulanza expressed confidence in victory, saying his long-standing commitment to community service would earn him the support of the electorate.
“I will say with every sense of humility that all my life, I have been rendering services to humanity, and that speaks volume. That is why I am the most favoured candidate to win this election,” he said.
The APC candidate described the exercise as peaceful in most polling units across the local government area and commended voters for their orderly conduct.
However, LP candidate Labaran Maku painted a different picture, alleging that several polling units experienced technical challenges with the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), which affected accreditation and delayed voting.
Speaking to journalists after casting his vote at his polling unit in Wakama Ward, Nasarawa-Eggon LGA, Maku said many voters struggled to complete accreditation because the machines failed to capture their fingerprints.
According to him, electoral officials should make greater use of facial recognition technology whenever fingerprint verification fails.
The former minister also alleged that some BVAS machines were affected by inadequate internet connectivity, forcing electoral officials and concerned citizens to seek alternative ways of sustaining accreditation and voting.
He described the situation as unfortunate, especially for a by-election conducted within a single senatorial district where adequate logistics and technical support ought to have been provided.
Maku further alleged that reports reaching him indicated incidents of ballot paper snatching, multiple thumb-printing and other electoral malpractices in communities such as Alushi, Wacho, Oru and parts of Wamba Local Government Area.
According to him, some of the alleged incidents were captured on video by residents and election observers, while others involved attempts to manipulate ballot papers before collation.
The LP candidate also accused certain political actors and government officials of attempting to influence the electoral process, although he did not provide evidence to support the claims.
Despite the allegations, Maku acknowledged that voting commenced peacefully in many polling units but warned that the most critical stage of the election would be the collation and transmission of results.
He urged security agencies and electoral officials to remain vigilant, noting that tensions often arise during the collation process.
“The election is not just about who wins or loses. It is about the country winning through a transparent and credible process. Democracy can only prosper when the people’s will prevails,” Maku stated.
He stressed that democratic elections should be determined by the votes of the people and not by political influence or abuse of incumbency.
As of the time of filing this report, efforts to obtain an official response from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on the allegations were unsuccessful.
