Nigeria’s democratic journey since the return to civilian rule in 1999 has been marked by both progress and persistent flaws. Each election cycle has been celebrated as a step forward, yet each has also been marred by familiar failings — vote buying, violence, intimidation, and technical glitches. The introduction of technology like the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) was meant to restore confidence, but the culture of elections in the country has often proven stronger than the reforms. The elections held across six states on Saturday, June 20, 2026, were no exception. They offered both a glimpse of progress and a sobering reminder of how far Nigeria still has to go.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) emerged dominant, winning contests in Ekiti, Kano, Ondo, Enugu North, and Nasarawa North, while the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) salvaged a single victory in Rivers South-East. On paper, the ruling party’s sweep looks decisive. In reality, the contests were scarred by malpractice that continues to undermine the credibility of the ballot.
In Ekiti, Governor Biodun Oyebanji’s re-election was emphatic, but the process was tainted by reports of cash inducements and alcohol distributed at polling units. EFCC operatives were forced to withdraw after clashes with voters, and journalists covering the election were attacked. The scale of his victory may have been clear, but the integrity of the process was not. The widespread use of money and material inducements in Ekiti highlighted how entrenched vote buying has become in Nigeria’s political culture. For many voters, the ballot was not a choice between policies but a transaction dictated by immediate survival needs.
APC’s Ikeje Asogwa won overwhelmingly in Enugu North, yet the day was marred by bloodshed. A party agent was shot while resisting ballot box snatching, another was attacked with sharp weapons, and a ward chairman in Nsukka was robbed and stripped. Opposition figures accused state officials of manipulating the process, insisting the margin of victory reflected intimidation rather than genuine support. The violence in Enugu underscored how elections in Nigeria often resemble battlefields, where the muscle of thugs and hired enforcers determines outcomes more than the will of the people.
In Kano, APC’s Rabiu Shuaibu cruised to victory in a race so lopsided it barely resembled democracy. With opposition parties sidelined and turnout thin, the election looked more like a coronation than a competition. The absence of genuine contest in Kano raised questions about whether democracy without competition can truly be called democracy. It also highlighted the growing dominance of APC in northern Nigeria, where opposition parties struggle to mount credible challenges.
Ondo South was calm, but APC’s Dayo Faduyile won almost unopposed, leaving voters spectators in a process stripped of genuine contest. Internal zoning disputes within the APC simmered beneath the surface, raising questions about whether peace without contest can truly be called democracy. The Ondo election illustrated how intra-party rivalries, rather than inter-party competition, often define Nigeria’s political landscape.
Rivers South-East offered the PDP its lone success, as Olaka Johnson defeated APC’s candidate with nearly 48,000 votes. Yet rival parties alleged fake result sheets, manipulation by INEC officials, and poor logistics. Both Action Alliance and Labour Party vowed to challenge the outcome in court, arguing that the victory was compromised. Rivers has long been a theatre of electoral controversy, and Saturday’s election was no different. The PDP’s victory may have been a morale boost, but the allegations of irregularities ensured that the win was contested almost immediately.
In Nasarawa North, APC’s Danladi Halilu Envulu-Anza won comfortably, but BVAS malfunctions defined the day. Fingerprint capture failed repeatedly, devices ran out of data, and voters endured long delays. Labour Party agents staged a walkout at the collation centre in Akwanga, while the NDC protested that its logo was missing from ballot papers. Governor Abdullahi Sule praised the process as smooth, but opposition figures dismissed his remarks, insisting that technology had betrayed the voter. The Nasarawa election highlighted the limits of technological fixes in a system still plagued by human manipulation and logistical failures.
Taken together, these elections reveal Nigeria’s paradox. On one hand, INEC demonstrated its ability to organise multiple contests across states with speed and efficiency, backed by BVAS technology that continues to win cautious praise. On the other, the persistence of malpractice — vote buying, violence, exclusion, and technical failures — shows how far the country still has to go. APC may have left the weekend with the upper hand, but the real verdict lies not in the result sheets, but in the hospitals treating injured agents, the homes of attacked journalists, and the petitions already being drafted for election tribunals.
Nigeria’s elections continue to deliver mandates built not on ideas or policies, but on money and muscles. Until that changes, the country will remain trapped in a cycle where the form of democracy exists, but its substance is still missing. The lesson from Saturday is clear: Nigeria has mastered the logistics of elections, but not yet the ethics. The machinery of voting is in place, but the culture of manipulation persists. For voters who endured intimidation, for journalists who were attacked, and for party agents who were shot or stripped, the weekend was not a triumph of democracy but a reminder of its fragility.
The APC’s victories may dominate the headlines, but the deeper story is one of a democracy still struggling to free itself from the grip of money and muscle. Nigeria’s democratic project remains unfinished, and until elections are won on ideas rather than inducements, and on persuasion rather than violence, the country will continue to run elections without truly running democracy.
This raises a larger question: was Saturday’s exercise a litmus test for what will happen at the general elections? If these by-elections are any indication, then the general polls may follow the same troubling pattern — decisive victories overshadowed by malpractice, efficiency undermined by violence, and technology compromised by human interference. The weekend contests were not just isolated events; they were a preview of the challenges Nigeria must confront if it hopes to deliver a credible nationwide election.
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