A fresh dispute over hijab and biometric accreditation has emerged from the Osun governorship election, after a woman alleged that she was told to uncover her hair before officials could capture her for voting.
The voter, identified as Sekinat Mosun, said she had spent more than six hours at her polling location before reaching the accreditation stage on Saturday.
In a video obtained from the incident, Mosun said officials demanded that she remove her hijab before her photograph could be taken.
She said, “When it’s now my turn to vote, they are now asking me to remove my hijab before I can vote, before they can take my capturing.”
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Mosun rejected the request. She said she had previously undergone NIN biometric capture while wearing her hijab.
She asked: “Even when I took the capturing for my NIN, this is the way I did it. So why must you ask me to remove my hijab?”
She described the demand as an infringement on her religious and civic rights.
Mosun said, “This is my religion, and I have rights to my religion,”
She added that officials told her to expose her hair before the biometric process could proceed.
“I can never, ever do that,” she said.
BVAS requirement, religious attire collide
The incident raises a practical question about how facial authentication is handled when a voter’s religious clothing covers part of the head.
INEC’s published voting procedure provides that BVAS authenticates voters through either fingerprints or facial recognition. The Commission’s guidelines also require positive identification through BVAS before a person can vote.
The issue is not entirely new.
During the 2023 FCT Area Council election, a voter at Zango Mosque polling unit in Bwari told The Nation that she and several other women had been asked to remove their hijabs after BVAS failed to identify them. She said the experience did not recur during the 2023 election.
JAMB faced similar controversy in 2026
The development also recalls disputes that followed the 2026 UTME.
In February, JAMB clarified that candidates were not required to remove their hijabs during registration after a viral video alleged that a Muslim candidate had been asked to do so at Afe Babalola University. The board said the requirement concerned visibility of the ears for biometric purposes and did not require removal of the hijab.
In April, another video from an Ibadan CBT centre showed a female candidate being asked to remove her hijab before entering the examination venue. JAMB subsequently condemned the incident and said it was the action of an “overzealous” ad-hoc official, not its approved procedure.
The Osun incident therefore brings the question back to election administration: biometric verification must establish a voter’s identity without turning religious attire into a barrier to participation.
As of the time of filing, Mosun’s account had not been independently corroborated by INEC.
