Tension is brewing in Kogi State following allegations that Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo made disparaging remarks about voter strength in Kogi East and sought political endorsements from traditional rulers in Okunland ahead of his expected reelection bid in 2027.<\/p>\n
The Okun Leaders League (OLL), a socio-political group representing the Okun people of Kogi West, issued a strongly worded statement on Friday, accusing the governor of attempting to \u201cdenigrate the royal institution of Okunland\u201d and \u201ccause socio-ethnic disaffection\u201d in the state.<\/p>\n
According to the group, Governor Ododo had on Thursday, November 5, 2025, convened a meeting in Lokoja with the chairmen of traditional councils from the five core Okun local government areas\u2014led by the Obaro of Kabba, Oba Solomon Owoniyi\u2014ostensibly to discuss security concerns in the region.<\/p>\n
However, the OLL claimed that the meeting took a political turn, with the governor allegedly soliciting the monarchs\u2019 support for his second-term ambition rather than addressing the spate of kidnappings and killings that have plagued Okunland in recent months.<\/p>\n
Ododo Allegedly Questioned Kogi East\u2019s Voter Numbers<\/p>\n
The group alleged that Governor Ododo told the traditional rulers that the population and voter figures from Kogi East, dominated by the Igala ethnic group, were \u201cinflated at the creation of the state in 1991,\u201d leading to decades of political dominance by the zone.<\/p>\n
He was also said to have explained a rotational power template, purportedly designed by his predecessor and political ally, former Governor Yahaya Bello, under which Kogi Central (his zone) would retain power for eight years before handing it to the Okun people in 2031, and later to the Lokoja\/Kotonkarfe bloc in 2039.<\/p>\n
\u201cKogi Is Not Anyone\u2019s Personal Estate\u201d \u2014 Okun Leaders<\/p>\n
In their response, the OLL condemned what it described as Ododo\u2019s \u201cdisrespectful\u201d engagement with Okun royal fathers and his attempt to impose a political arrangement on the state.<\/p>\n
\u201cKogi State is not the personal estate of any individual or group who believe they can selfishly dictate its political direction from their bedrooms,\u201d the statement read.<\/p>\n
The group further accused the Bello\u2013Ododo administrations of adding \u201cminimum value to sociocultural harmony\u201d in the state over the past decade, arguing that Kogi remains \u201cone of the most backward in Nigeria,\u201d with its development profile worsening under their leadership.<\/p>\n
Governor Ododo, the group advised, should focus on governance and security rather than \u201cherding Okun royal fathers around like schoolchildren.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe wonder why he is not committing as much energy to wooing traditional rulers in Kogi East, which has nine local government areas\u2014far more than in Okunland,\u201d the statement added.<\/p>\n
The release was jointly signed by Canon Andrew Baiyekuhi (Kabba-Bunu), Mallam Qassim Yusuf (Ijumu), Dr. James Ogbondeminu (Mopamuro), Engineer Omobowale Palufe (Yagba East), and Chief Samuel Obaro (Yagba West).<\/p>\n
As of press time, Governor Ododo\u2019s office had not issued any official response to the allegations.<\/p>\n
If verified, the remarks could further heighten existing political and ethnic tensions in Kogi State, where debates over power rotation and representation have long been contentious.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tension is brewing in Kogi State following allegations that Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo made disparaging remarks about voter strength in Kogi East and sought political endorsements from traditional rulers in Okunland ahead of his expected reelection bid in 2027. The Okun Leaders League (OLL), a socio-political group representing the Okun people of Kogi West, issued […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":95915,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[7425,5732,5169,7450,1450],"class_list":["post-95912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-uncategorized","tag-kogi-east","tag-ododo","tag-okun","tag-oll","tag-rulers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=95912"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95912\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/95915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=95912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=95912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=95912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}