2023 Nigerian Senate elections in Nasarawa State

In the years before the primary, the state APC underwent a small-scale dispute between two senators that used to be governor: Abdullahi Adamu and Umaru Tanko Al-Makura while Governor Abdullahi Sule and Akwashiki mostly stood on the sidelines but leaned towards Al-Makura. The disagreement intensified into a subtle cold war when Adamu resigned from the Senate to become APC National Chairman in March 2022 and gained extensive power over the party at-large leading to rumours that he was planning on replacing Al-Makura and Akwashiki with closer allies.[14][15] Although Al-Makura ended up unopposed in his primary, Akwashiki was targeted as Danladi Halilu Envulu'Anza announced his candidacy. Akwashiki and Envulu'Anza were longtime political rivals and their dispute had only escalated in 2019 when Envulu'Anza and his associates assaulted Akwashiki for his alleged attempt to woo Envulu'Anza's wife.[16] Pundits noted Adamu's open support for Envulu'Anza and categorized the primary as a proxy battle between Adamu and Al-Makura.[17]

In the days before the primary, reports of delegate list manipulation by Adamu in favor of Envulu'Anza led to protests within the party along with a statement from the state party chairman requesting the national secretariat to refrain from further meddling.[18] In the wake of the reports, Akwashiki announced his withdrawal from the primary on 29 May.[19] In the primary, Envulu'Anza easily won the nomination as journalists noted that the manipulated "Abuja list" of delegates was used to determine eligible delegates.[20] The next month, Akwashiki defected to the SDP to obtain its nomination.[2]

In the PDP primary, Nathaniel Obin Aboki—a businessman—was nominated with just under a majority of the delegates' votes at 46.3%.

After Akwashiki's decampment, pundits reiterated the strength of Envulu'Anza's candidacy but noted that the district's former APC base had split between him and Akwashiki in the SDP. The observation was in the context of wider infighting within the Nasarawa APC throughout the post-primary period.[27] In campaign analysis from December 2022, The Nation labeled Akwashiki as the frontrunner due to his crossover support from APC groups and Aboki's weak grassroots support.[28]

In the years before the primary, the state APC underwent a dispute between Senator Abdullahi Adamu and Al-Makura; the disagreement intensified into a when Adamu became APC National Chairman in March 2022 and gained extensive power over the party at-large leading to rumours that he was planning on replacing Al-Makura with a closer ally.[29][15] However, only Al-Makura was a candidate by the primary date and he was renominated via affirmation in Lafia. In his post-primary remarks, Al-Makura pledged loyalty to the APC and thanked delegates.[30][31]

In campaign analysis from December 2022, The Nation reporting noted that Onawo is of the larger ethnic Alago community and Al-Makura is of the smaller Gwandara ethnicity, but also categorized the election as one of few in the state to not appear to be dominated by ethnicity-based support patterns. Overall, the newspaper labeled the race as a "50/50" between Onawo and Al-Makura while noting the potential effects of Musa Abdullahi (NNPP) and Adamu Muazu Allu (SDP).[28]

Like the Nasarawa North APC primary, in the days before the primary, reports of delegate list manipulation by Adamu led to protests within the party along with a statement from the state party chairman requesting the national secretariat to refrain from further meddling. Adamu backed Shehu Tukur over former MHR Ahmed Wadada or Labaran Magaji, leading Wadada to withdraw and leave the party to obtain the SDP nomination while Magaji continued onto the APC primary.[36] On the primary date, the exercise was disrupted and later postponed due to a group of Magaji-supporting protesters decrying the altered delegate list.[37] On 6 June, a new primary was conducted at the Nasarawa State University in Keffi that resulted in a Tukur victory after results showed him defeating Magaji by a significant margin.[38] However, Magaji immediately rejected the results and launched a legal challenge based on the delegate list scandal amid further party crisis.[39][40][41] In early November, the lawsuit succeeded as a Federal High Court ruling annulled the APC primary and ordered the party to conduct a new primary with the original delegate list.[42] Although the state APC set the new primary date as 12 November, Tukur appealed the High Court ruling leading the rerun to be postponed.[43]

On the primary date, four candidates contested an indirect primary in Keffi that ended with Umar Galadima winning the nomination after results showed him defeating Bala Ahmed Aliyu by a significant margin. In his acceptance speech, Galadima thanked delegates and asked his former opponents to work with him.[46]

In campaign analysis from December 2022, The Nation reporting labeled Wadada (SDP) as the frontrunner due to his crossover support from APC groups and Galadima's weak grassroots support.[28] The next month, OrderPaper Nigeria also noted the APC primary crisis as a key weakness of its campaigning but Wadada's weakness was the relatively smaller size of the SDP.[47]