The ruling All Progressives Congress in Kogi State is facing one of its most serious internal crises in recent years, as disputes over senatorial primaries, allegations of manipulation, and the suspension of key figures expose widening cracks within the party ahead of the 2027 elections.<\/p>\n
One of the centres of the storm is Senator Jibrin Isah Echocho, whose suspension by APC executives in Odu Ward 2, Dekina Local Government Area, has deepened tensions within the party\u2019s Kogi East structure. Party officials accused the senator of anti-party activities and alleged links with opposition figures after his defeat in the APC senatorial primary.<\/p>\n
But the suspension has triggered an immediate backlash from influential stakeholders in Kogi East, who insist the action was politically motivated and procedurally flawed. In a petition to APC National Chairman Nentawe Yilwatda Goshwe, the stakeholders rejected the suspension as \u201cinvalid\u201d and accused unnamed state actors of orchestrating a campaign to weaken Echocho\u2019s political influence.<\/p>\n
The group alleged that signatures used to legitimise the suspension were obtained from individuals who were not authentic ward executives, describing the process as \u201cimpersonation and political desperation.\u201d<\/p>\n
The crisis did not emerge in isolation. It followed a controversial APC primary in which Echocho openly rejected the results. In a viral video circulated after the exercise, the senator alleged that election materials and officials never arrived at polling locations and claimed the outcome had been predetermined at the Government House in Lokoja. He also hinted at a bigger political confrontation with Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo, declaring that \u201cthe battle line has been drawn.\u201d<\/p>\n
The conflict in Kogi East mirrors similar unrest across the state\u2019s other senatorial districts, suggesting a struggle for control of the APC political machinery in Kogi.<\/p>\n
In Kogi Central, former governor Yahaya Bello emerged winner of the APC senatorial primary after a highly contentious process that sparked protests and accusations of manipulation.<\/p>\n
One of Bello\u2019s challengers, APC UK Chapter Secretary Momoh Yusuf Obaro, rejected the official results, insisting that independently collated figures from his agents showed he defeated the former governor. According to Obaro, the official results \u2014 which credited Bello with over 72,000 votes while assigning him only 188 votes \u2014 were \u201cpolitically insulting and mathematically questionable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Obaro demanded the release of detailed ward-by-ward results and questioned Bello\u2019s eligibility to participate in the primary amid controversy surrounding his screening by the party. While several reports confirmed Bello was eventually cleared by the APC screening committee, others claimed he had initially failed to appear before the panel, fuelling speculation and protests at the APC national secretariat in Abuja.<\/p>\n
The political temperature is equally high in Kogi West, where a fresh battle has emerged over the APC senatorial ticket. Party stakeholders are accusing unnamed interests of attempting to overturn the outcome of the May 18 primary by promoting Hon. Sam Aro as winner despite what they describe as the duly recognised emergence of Senator Sunday Karimi as consensus candidate.<\/p>\n
Sources within the party allege that pressure is being mounted on APC officials in the district to publicly discredit the concluded primary and legitimise what critics describe as forged documents. The controversy has reportedly led to emergency meetings involving local government chairmen and zonal executives in Lokoja.<\/p>\n
For many observers, the disputes reflect a deeper battle over succession, influence, and political survival within the Kogi APC. Since leaving office in 2024, Yahaya Bello has remained a dominant figure in the party\u2019s structure, while Governor Ododo is still consolidating authority within the state. The result is a growing perception of parallel power centres competing for control ahead of 2027.<\/p>\n
Political observers say the APC\u2019s internal handling of the disputes could determine whether the party retains its dominance in Kogi or enters the next election cycle weakened by factional warfare.<\/p>\n
The public nature of the conflicts \u2014 from protests and petitions to suspensions and allegations of forged results \u2014 has also raised concerns about internal democracy within the ruling party. Opposition parties are expected to seize on the divisions as evidence of instability within the APC.<\/p>\n
Despite the escalating tensions, the APC national leadership has yet to make a definitive intervention on the disputes in Kogi. But with aggrieved aspirants openly challenging outcomes, stakeholders exchanging accusations, and loyalists mobilising across the three senatorial districts, the crisis is fast becoming a major political test for the party\u2019s leadership.<\/p>\n
What began as disagreements over primary elections has now evolved into a struggle for political control in one of Nigeria\u2019s most strategically important APC states. And unless the party leadership succeeds in reconciling the warring factions, the Kogi APC may head into the 2027 elections more divided than united.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The ruling All Progressives Congress in Kogi State is facing one of its most serious internal crises in recent years, as disputes over senatorial primaries, allegations of manipulation, and the suspension of key figures expose widening cracks within the party ahead of the 2027 elections. One of the centres of the storm is Senator Jibrin […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":98277,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5777,7,8],"tags":[189,759,6176,4770],"class_list":["post-99102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-features","category-news","category-politics","tag-apc","tag-bello","tag-echocho","tag-karimi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99102","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=99102"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99102\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":99103,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99102\/revisions\/99103"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/98277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=99102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=99102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=99102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}