Comrade Samuel Adebayo’s piece, “Kogi West APC Primary: When Politics Turns Comedy,” is a masterclass in selective storytelling. It ridicules rather than reports, and dismisses legitimate grievances as “comedy” while ignoring the substantive irregularities that prompted Ustaz Abubakar Zakari Ola’s campaign to seek redress from the APC National Working Committee. The people of Kogi West deserve facts, not punchlines.
Adebayo’s entire argument hinges on the unverified claim that Ustaz Ola polled “just 414 votes across seven LGAs.” That figure is not INEC-certified result, nor has the APC released a final, uncontested delegate-by-delegate breakdown to the public. What the Ola campaign has consistently challenged is the process, not arithmetic.
Reports from delegates in some parts of Lokoja, Kabba/Bunu, Ijumu, Yagba East, Yagba West, Mopamuro, and Koton Karfe detail ballot snatching, non-accreditation of delegates, and the sudden emergence of result sheets that did not reflect voting on the ground. The campaign’s petition to the NWC is backed by signed affidavits from ward coordinators and video evidence currently before the party’s appeal panel. To reduce that to “an aspirant with 414 votes demanding victory” is to convict before trial.
What Adebayo and his fellow Situational Assemblage of Wandering Pedestrians missed is this: Ustaz Abubakar Zakari Ola’s unannounced result is squeaky clean — uncontroversial, unlike the others aspirant in Kogi West.
Genuine and verifiable votes are votes cast according to APC guidelines: accredited delegates, open-secret ballot, and collation in the presence of agents. Where those conditions failed, the numbers announced are not results, they are allegations. The NWC exists precisely to adjudicate such disputes. Asking the party to do its job is not comedy; it is due process.
Democracy Is Votes and Rules
Adebayo argues that “democracy ultimately revolves around votes, party structures, and lawful procedures.” We agree. That is exactly why Ustaz Ola is before the NWC. Party structures include appeal committees. Lawful procedures include contesting flawed congresses. If a primary was marred by violence in Kogi LGA, by parallel voting in Kabba, and by the exclusion of statutory delegates in Yagba West, then officially announced results cannot be treated as sacrosanct.
To accept every announced result without scrutiny is to tell party members that impunity is democracy. The APC Constitution guarantees members the right to petition. Exercising that right is not rejecting defeat, it is demanding that the defeat, or victory, be credible.
Zoning Is Not Emotional Blackmail, It Is Party History
Dismissing Lokoja/Kogi Federal Constituency’s 20-year exclusion from the Senate as sentiments ignores how the APC itself has managed federal constituencies in Kogi West.
The ADC reference was not to bind APC to another party’s rules. It was to show that equity is politically wise. When a major constituency feels perpetually shut out, voter apathy and intra-party rebellion follow. Ustaz Ola’s candidacy speaks to that exclusion. To frame it as “regional agitation” is to deny the lived political experience of Lokoja/Kogi people. Fairness is not contrary to democracy; it sustains it.
On Former Governor Yahaya Bello: Context Matters
The Ola campaign did not drag the former governor into the dispute for sport. Delegates across Kogi West raised concerns about external interference from actors with no constitutional role in the primary. When stakeholders in Kogi Central are still seeking closure on their own congresses, it is reasonable to ask that the principle of non-interference be respected across districts. That is a call for internal order, not division. Unity without justice is a slogan. Unity after a transparent review is durable.
The Real Danger:
Normalizing Flawed Primaries and what truly reduces the credibility of the APC primary process, is not a petition to the NWC. It is the expectation that aspirants should accept results even when delegates swear they never voted. If every aggrieved aspirant is mocked as a comedian, the party will teach its members that silence is the only virtue. That is how imposition thrives.
Ustaz Abubakar Zakari Ola has not staged a media battle. He submitted a formal petition with exhibits, appeared before the appeal panel, and asked supporters to remain calm. That is the lawful channel Adebayo claims to want.
Kogi West Deserves Substance, Not Satire! Nigerians are indeed facing hardship. That is why Kogi West cannot afford a senator who emerges from a disputed process and spends four years fighting legitimacy battles instead of sponsoring bills. Credible leadership begins with credible selection.
The APC NWC has a duty to review the evidence, not the editorials. If Ustaz Ola’s claims are proven false, he should accept the outcome. If they are proven true, the party must be brave enough to correct the record. That is not comedy. That is democracy.
Kogi West does not need skits. It needs schools, roads, and federal presence. It needs a process that allows Lokoja/Kogi, Yagba, and Kabba/Bunu/Ijumu to all feel they belong. Ustaz Abubakar Zakari Ola’s campaign is not asking for pity. It is asking for the votes of accredited delegates to be counted (all of them, and only them).
Let the NWC speak. Let the facts speak. The voters of Kogi West have already spoken; the question is whether the party heard them.
– Dr. Daniel Adeleke is a member of APC from Okun speaking area of Kogi West who witnessed the primary process.
