The 2023 Nasarawa State gubernatorial election will take place on 18 March 2023, to elect the Governor of Nasarawa State, concurrent with elections to the Nasarawa State House of Assembly as well as twenty-seven other gubernatorial elections and elections to all other state houses of assembly.^[1][2] The election—which was postponed from its original 11 March date—will be held three weeks after the presidential election and National Assembly elections.^[3] Incumbent APC Governor Abdullahi Sule is eligible to run for re-election and has been renominated by his party.

The primaries, scheduled for between 4 April and 9 June 2022, resulted in Sule being renominated by the All Progressives Congress by a wide margin on 26 May while the Peoples Democratic Party nominated former House of Representatives member David Ombugadu on 25 May.^[4][5]

The Governor of Nasarawa State is elected using a modified two-round system. To be elected in the first round, a candidate must receive the plurality of the vote and over 25% of the vote in at least two-thirds of state local government areas. If no candidate passes this threshold, a second round will be held between the top candidate and the next candidate to have received a plurality of votes in the highest number of local government areas.

Nasarawa State is a large state in the North Central with vast natural areas and a improving health sector but facing underdeveloped agriculture and intense challenges in security as the nationwide kidnapping epidemic, inter-ethnic violence, and herder–farmer clashes have all heavily affected the state. Politically, the state's 2019 elections had a significant swing towards the state APC. In federal elections, Buhari gained the state for the APC while the APC swept all senate seats by gaining two PDP-held seats. Similarly, the APC gained one PDP-held House of Representatives seat, held the governorship, and kept the majority in the House of Assembly.

Ahead of his term, Sule pledged to complete the previous administration's projects, further rural electrification, and rehabilitate transportation infrastructure. In terms of his performance, Sule was praised for providing financial autonomy to local government areas but criticized for failing to follow through on promises.^[6][7]

The primaries, along with any potential challenges to primary results, were to take place between 4 April and 3 June 2022 but the deadline was extended to 9 June.^[2][8] The primaries, along with any potential challenges to primary results, were to take place between 4 April and 3 June 2022 but the deadline was extended to 9 June.^[2][8]

After the primaries, analysts noted the main change from the previous two gubernatorial elections: Labaran Maku not running as the APGA nominee. Maku, who obtained 29.4% in 2015 and 19.8% in 2019, left APGA in April 2022 and rejoined the PDP leading a report to say Sule may "face an uphill task [in] defeating the combined forces in [the] PDP." Further issues emerged for Sule due to the APC presidential ticket—APC nominee Bola Tinubu's selection of Kashim Shettima created a Muslim-Muslim ticket, violating an unwritten convention against same religion tickets—with pundits noting the religious diversity of Nasarawa and the opposition forming against the APC among northern Christians. The presidential ticket fomented enough internal dissent among Sule administration officials that Sule reportedly issued an ultimatum to his appointees, telling them to remain loyal to the APC or resign from their offices. To compound the internal APC dissent complication, Sule continued to face issues from the state APC leadership dispute and members aggrieved by various primary outcomes.^[37] For his part, Sule and the APC campaigned on milestones from his term with a focus on newly constructed and rehabilitated roads, upgraded health infrastructure, and the timely payment of civil servant salaries.^[38] By August, analysts continued to focus on APC infighting and its potential impact on Sule's campaign but also noted splits within oppositional candidates and their parties.^[39][40] The next month, pundits reiterated the potential impact of defections from the APC but also noted PDP strength in Eggon and Alago ethnicities.^[41]

Throughout the campaign, pundits focused on Nasarawa's competitiveness on the presidential level as the state's margin was about 36,000 votes in 2015 when it was won by Goodluck Jonathan (PDP) and only around 6,000 votes in 2019 when Muhammadu Buhari (APC) won it.^[37] This focus lead to intense attention on the statewide results in the 2023 presidential election; Peter Obi (LP) won the state with 35% of the vote, beating Bola Tinubu (APC) at 33% and Atiku Abubakar (PDP) at 27%. The result, along with APC senatorial defeats to the PDP and SDP, led observers to question Sule's chances in the gubernatorial election amid the losses and APC crisis.^[42][43] Considering that LP gubernatorial nominee Joseph Ewuga stepped down for Ombugadu on 9 March, analysts noted Ombugadu's rise and further breakdowns in intra-APC relationship.^[44][45]

• 2023 Nigerian elections
• 2023 Nigerian gubernatorial elections