Ahead of tomorrow’s Local Government Chairmanship and Councilorship elections across Kogi State, the main opposition African Democratic Congress (ADC) has raised a grave alarm over an alleged calculated plot by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to subvert and manipulate the electoral process.
The elections are scheduled to take place on Saturday, 17th October 2026, across all 21 Local Government Areas in the state.
In a press statement issued on Friday in Lokoja and made available to newsmen, the State Chairman of the ADC, Hon. Tom Zakari, alleged that the party has uncovered clandestine plans by the ruling APC to omit the deployment of ballot boxes to polling units or restrict them to a few selected areas to create a facade of a genuine exercise.
Zakari further revealed that the party holds credible intelligence pointing to a deliberate scheme to prevent the announcement of election results at the respective polling units and ward collation centres.
According to the party chairman, the plot is designed to create an opportunity to divert sensitive electoral materials to unauthorized destinations, where election results would be falsified, inflated, and awarded to the ruling APC.
“The ADC wishes to state categorically that on no ground shall we condone any such acts of manipulation, electoral fraud, and irregularities that confer undue advantage on the ruling APC in the state,” the statement read.
The party subsequently warned the APC leadership in Kogi State to immediately desist from what it described as “usual perpetration of electoral impunity, malfeasance, and unacceptable brigandage” in the state.
Despite the alleged threats to the credibility of the polls, the ADC leadership charged its members, party candidates, and voters across the 21 local government councils to turn out in large numbers on Saturday to exercise their franchise, emphasizing that no amount of force can deny citizens their civic rights.
The opposition party also reminded the Kogi State Independent Electoral Commission (KOSIEC) of the solemn commitment it made during a recent stakeholders’ meeting held at the NUT Hall in Lokoja, where the commission pledged to deliver a free, fair, credible, and transparent local council election.
“Any act of reneging on this solemn promise on the part of KOSIEC would not be acceptable on any account by the ADC and indeed by the good people of Kogi State,” the party warned.
