Political stakeholders and community leaders from Kogi East Senatorial District, under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), have thrown their weight behind President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Kogi State Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo ahead of the 2027 general elections, while pressing for a negotiated framework on power rotation and renewed infrastructural investment in the region.
The declaration was contained in a communiqué issued at the close of the Kogi East APC Strategic Leadership Conference, held in Abuja and chaired by Maj. Gen. Patrick Ademu Akpa (rtd).
The communiqué was signed by 26 prominent figures from the district, including Conference Chairman Maj. Gen. Patrick Ademu Akpa (rtd), Amb. Isaac A. Onu, Rt. Hon. Ismaila Inna Hussani, Rt. Hon. Dr. Emmanuel Egwu, Hajia Salamatu Baiwa Umar-Eluma, AIG. Abutu Iyaro (rtd), Dr. Sani Teidi, Hon. Dan Okolo, Abdulahi Haruna (SAN), Dr. Johnson Musa, Prof. Aliyu Idris, Dr. Tom Diche, Hajia Mariam Yakubu, Hajia Hassanat Abubakar, and Hon. Abubakar Sadiq Ainoko, along with eleven other stakeholders.
The stakeholders described securing electoral victory for Tinubu, Ododo, and other APC candidates as their central objective heading into 2027 and pledged to mobilise grassroots structures across all nine local government areas in the district.
The group pointed to its performance in the 2023 elections, noting that Kogi East delivered the highest number of votes for Tinubu among the state’s three senatorial districts. Citing federal appointments given to indigenes of the district under the Tinubu administration, the leaders said they intend to reciprocate that support at the polls.
Alongside their endorsement, the stakeholders called for a structured conversation on power rotation within Kogi State, urging collaboration with the Kogi Central and Kogi West senatorial districts to build consensus on a transparent path forward.
They framed the district as a major political bloc in its own right, asserting that Kogi East would not be subordinated to any other zone or political interest, and called for an inclusive arrangement that guarantees the region equitable access to power.
A central grievance in the communiqué was what the group described as two decades of infrastructural neglect in Kogi East, a period they trace back to the years following the death of former Governor Prince Abubakar Audu. The leaders said internal political drift over roughly the past decade has compounded the region’s development challenges.
Invoking Audu’s legacy — including the founding of the first university in Anyigba and major projects such as the Obajana Cement Plant in Kogi West — the group said the district’s continued political alignment with the APC must now translate into concrete road networks, public facilities, and broader economic development across its nine local government areas.
The communiqué resolved to launch full grassroots mobilisation across Kogi East’s nine LGAs for Tinubu, Ododo, and APC legislative candidates in 2027.
While appreciating President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for federal appointments extended to Kogi East indigenes, they stated firm commitment to negotiate directly with state and federal authorities for accelerated infrastructure delivery in the district.
They pledged to end the internal political friction that has persisted in the district since the 2015 elections.
The stakeholders called for deliberate move to institutionalise a non-partisan Prince Abubakar Audu Leadership Foundation, and a request that the Federal Government confer a national honour on the late governor.
