Justice for One, Stability for All
Senator Sunday Steve Karimi did not speak at Kabba Day; he detonated the most consequential political bomb of the post-Bello era. His words tore through the scripted silence, ripped apart the manufactured calm, and exposed the truth many were too intimidated to say aloud. His intervention was not a remark — it was a disruption powerful enough to reset the entire political climate of Kogi State.
Karimi’s salvo struck precisely where the current administration is most vulnerable: the injustice that produced Governor Usman Ododo. For the first time since 2023, someone with statewide moral authority has publicly challenged the legitimacy architecture built by Yahaya Bello. His Kabba Day message did not just unsettle the seats of power; it shook the pillars holding together an arrangement that was never democratic in the first place.
The truth is unavoidable: the emergence of Governor Ododo was the peak of political imbalance. No moral argument, no democratic theory, no regional logic can justify returning power to Kogi Central after eight uninterrupted years of Yahaya Bello. It was not a transition — it was a continuation engineered to protect the interests of one man at the expense of two senatorial districts.
For 32 years, Kogi West has never produced a governor. Kogi East, despite being the largest voting bloc, has consistently shown patience and political maturity. Yet both were side-stepped because Yahaya Bello’s priority was not justice, equity, or balance — it was self-preservation. Ododo was not selected because he was the best choice; he was selected because he was the safest shield.
This is the political truth the government hoped would remain buried. Karimi unearthed it.
The silence the administration enjoys today is not acceptance; it is tension disguised. Every political observer knows the calm is temporary. Beneath the surface, resentment is gathering force, conversations are shifting, and a statewide awakening is underway. Leaders who once tiptoed around the injustice are now stating it openly. The fear that once muzzled criticism has dissolved.
And at the heart of this awakening stands the Kogi Equity Alliance (KEA) — organising, educating, mobilising, and unifying the voices demanding fairness.
The former governor’s shadow still stretches across Kogi politics, but its strength is fading. The “White Lion” whose roar once dominated the political landscape now echoes without authority. The system he built is cracking. The loyalty he enjoyed has thinned. His political structure stands like a building stripped of pillars — still standing, but dangerously unstable.
Any coordinated alignment between Kogi West and Kogi East will completely rewrite the state’s political map. The numbers, the grievances, the history, and the demographics all favour this coalition. It is the one realignment Ododo cannot survive and Bello cannot stop. The tide has shifted, and this time, it is not shifting quietly.
If Governor Ododo desires a future beyond the present, he has only one viable option: deliver genuine governance. Not token projects. Not propaganda. Not choreographed praise-singing. Only measurable performance can buy him the legitimacy his emergence never provided. Every day he delays, the gap widens between him and the realities shaping 2027.
Karimi’s Kabba Day message was more than a warning; it was a statewide declaration that the era of political imbalance is approaching its end. It signaled that those who built power on injustice must prepare for the consequences. The people are alert. The regions are aligning. The narrative has escaped their control.
Justice delayed is no longer justice denied.
Justice delayed is now justice mobilising.
Justice mobilising is unstoppable.
2027 will not be business as usual.
The old order is collapsing.
A new balance is emerging.
And Kogi is preparing for its most defining political correction in 32 years.
Justice for One, Stability for All.
– Ahmad Ibrahim
For: Kogi Equity Alliance (KEA)
