When a people begin to compare records, political history becomes the ultimate campaign poster
Politics in Kogi Central has entered a defining chapter.
The 2027 senatorial contest is no longer merely a contest between two political parties or two individuals seeking elective office. It has become a referendum on leadership, memory, performance, political tolerance and the right of the people to decide who represents them.
On one side stands Senator Natasha Hadiza Akpoti-Uduaghan, the incumbent senator representing Kogi Central on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party.
On the other stands former Governor Yahaya Bello, who governed Kogi State for eight years and is now seeking to return to the political stage as the All Progressives Congress candidate for Kogi Central.
The contrast could hardly be more politically significant.
Natasha is seeking a second term after a first tenure that has generated considerable public visibility around constituency projects, empowerment, infrastructure and legislative advocacy. Bello, after eight years as governor, is asking the same people to entrust him with a new responsibility at the National Assembly.
Both men and women in politics deserve to be judged by records rather than propaganda.
And that is precisely where the real battle begins.
The Woman They Could Not Push Out
There is an uncomfortable truth for Natasha’s political opponents: attempts to weaken a political mandate can sometimes strengthen it.
Natasha’s emergence as Kogi Central’s senator was historically significant. She became the first woman elected to represent Kogi State in the Senate. But her political journey has been anything but easy.
She has had to fight political battles inside and outside the National Assembly, including legal and institutional challenges to her mandate.
In 2025, an attempt was made to initiate a recall process against her. INEC initially reported deficiencies in the petition and, on April 3, 2025, ultimately stated that the petition did not meet the constitutional requirement under Section 69(a), meaning no further action would be taken on the recall.
That episode deserves political reflection.
A recall is supposed to represent an organic expression of constituents’ loss of confidence. It is not supposed to become an instrument of political revenge.
Indeed, Natasha herself publicly accused former Governor Yahaya Bello and Senate President Godswill Akpabio of being behind the recall effort. Those were her allegations, and the political actors accused denied or disputed such characterisations; therefore, history should record them as allegations rather than established facts.
But whatever one’s position on that controversy, one fact is undeniable:
The recall attempt did not remove Natasha from the Senate.
And today, she is still standing.
More importantly, she is seeking another mandate.
Yahaya Bello’s Eight Years: What Should Kogi Central Remember?
Former Governor Yahaya Bello has every constitutional right to seek elective office.
But when a former governor asks the people to promote him from the Government House to the National Assembly, the people are equally entitled to ask:
What did you do with the enormous power you previously possessed?
This is where political memory becomes important.
Bello’s eight-year administration remains deeply controversial, particularly around workers’ salaries, pension arrears and the prolonged staff screening exercise.
The government argued that the screening was necessary to eliminate ghost workers and clean up the state’s payroll. Indeed, reports at the time said the screening uncovered thousands of suspected ghost workers, while a government-backed panel claimed Kogi had lost enormous sums to payroll irregularities.
That argument deserves acknowledgement.
A government has a legitimate responsibility to eliminate ghost workers and protect public funds.
But the question is not whether screening was necessary.
The question is:
At what human cost was it implemented?
The controversy became severe enough that protests erupted across the state. Workers complained about being removed from payroll, while organised labour condemned prolonged salary and pension arrears. In 2017, Kogi’s NLC and TUC even cancelled the state’s May Day celebration over non-payment of salaries and pensions, with the unions saying many affected workers and pensioners had gone unpaid for more than a year.
Kogi Polytechnic workers also protested over unpaid salaries, with reports at the time describing the verification exercise as an apparently endless process that had left genuine workers without pay.
And in 2019, Kogi labour leaders alleged that salary and pension arrears remained substantial, while the Bello administration disputed the scale of the indebtedness and said it had paid much more than labour acknowledged.
That disagreement is important.
Because political opponents cannot simply rewrite history.
But neither can supporters erase the suffering that workers and pensioners publicly documented.
When Government Statistics Meet Human Suffering
The greatest failure of governance is not necessarily found in a government document.
Sometimes it is found in the kitchen of a civil servant.
It is found in the school fees a parent cannot pay.
It is found in the pensioner who waits for months.
It is found in the child sent home from school because the parent has no money.
It is found in the family that survives by borrowing.
And this is why the debate over Bello’s years in office cannot simply be reduced to whether the government eventually claimed that salary arrears had been cleared.
Bello himself announced in August 2019 that Kogi had updated salary payments for cleared workers through July and declared that the state no longer owed civil servants.
That was the government’s position.
But the political memory of the preceding years cannot simply disappear because an arrears announcement was eventually made.
For many Kogi families, the experience had already become personal.
The question for the electorate therefore remains:
Was the administration sufficiently compassionate and effective in protecting ordinary workers while carrying out its reforms?
That is a legitimate political question.
The Political Succession Question
Perhaps the most consequential part of the Bello legacy is not merely what happened during his eight years in office.
It is what happened after those eight years.
Bello left office in 2024 and was succeeded by Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo.
Ododo’s emergence was politically significant because of his close association with the Bello political establishment.
The question now confronting Kogi Central is whether the political system Bello built should continue to dominate the district’s representation.
This is not about hatred.
It is about accountability.
If a former governor wants to become senator, the electorate should not merely ask:
“What position are you seeking?”
They should ask:
“What philosophy of leadership are you bringing with you?”
Natasha’s Biggest Political Advantage: She Has A Record To Defend
Natasha’s strongest argument is not that she is a woman.
It is not that she is controversial.
It is not that she has survived political attacks.
Her strongest argument is that she can point to what she says she has delivered.
According to her official constituency project records, her representation has included solar-powered water systems, solar streetlights, transformers, markets, empowerment initiatives, education-related projects, security infrastructure and youth technology programmes. Her office says projects include 2,000 smart streetlights, 14 solar water systems, eight 500KVA transformers, two markets containing 160 shops and empowerment programmes reaching about 2,000 constituents.
Whether every constituent agrees with those figures or not, the political conversation has changed.
People are now asking:
Can we see the projects?
Can we identify the beneficiaries?
Can communities point to something tangible?
That is exactly how democratic accountability should work.
And Natasha’s political camp has increasingly built its case around that argument.
Kogi Central Has Never Had It This Good?
This statement is politically powerful, but it should also be treated as a claim to be tested against evidence.
The senator’s supporters argue that Kogi Central has experienced an unusually visible level of constituency intervention under her tenure.
Her official platform currently lists projects involving water, electricity, markets, education, roads, technology, healthcare and economic empowerment. It also highlights newer initiatives such as free Wi-Fi at the Federal College of Education, Okene, public internet projects and a 10,000-economic-tree programme.
That is a fundamentally different political argument from:
“Vote for me because I am the most powerful.”
It is:
“Vote for me because you can see what I have done.”
That distinction matters.
And Now Bello Wants the Senate
This is where the political irony becomes difficult to ignore.
A man who once controlled the entire machinery of Kogi State is now asking Kogi Central to give him a seat in the Senate.
There is nothing inherently wrong with that.
Former governors can become excellent senators.
But the electorate has every right to demand a convincing answer to one question:
Why should the same people who entrusted you with eight years of executive power now give you another mandate?
What new thing will you bring?
What lessons did you learn?
What mistakes will you correct?
What will you do differently?
How will your legislative representation improve the lives of the people?
And perhaps most importantly:
Why should the people abandon an incumbent whose supporters say they are already seeing tangible results?
Those questions cannot be answered by political rallies alone.
They must be answered by records.
The Natasha Question: Can A Woman Be Allowed To Lead Without Being Destroyed?
There is another dimension to this contest that should not be ignored.
Natasha’s rise has challenged an old political culture in which political power is frequently dominated by men and established political structures.
A woman entering such a space will inevitably attract resistance.
But democracy cannot become a system where a woman is celebrated when she obeys political structures and attacked when she becomes independently powerful.
If Natasha succeeds, it should not be because she is a woman.
And if she fails, it should not be because she is a woman.
She should be judged by the same standard applied to every male politician:
Performance.
Integrity.
Accessibility.
Legislative effectiveness.
Constituency development.
Accountability.
That is the standard that should apply to both Natasha and Bello.
The Recall Attempt Was A Political Lesson
Perhaps the most important lesson from the failed recall attempt is that political power cannot always manufacture popular legitimacy.
The recall process became a national story in March and April 2025.
INEC acknowledged receiving a petition containing signatures purportedly representing more than half of registered voters in the district but subsequently ruled that the petition did not meet the constitutional requirements for recall.
Whatever one’s political interpretation, the episode ended without Natasha losing her seat.
That should send a message to every politician:
Never underestimate the political intelligence of the electorate.
People may be poor.
People may be angry.
People may be politically divided.
But people remember.
They remember who paid attention.
They remember who visited.
They remember who empowered them.
They remember who ignored them.
And, above all, they remember how they were treated.
The 2027 Election: Two Political Generations Collide
The contest is now official.
Natasha received the PDP Certificate of Return for the Kogi Central senatorial race in June 2026.
Bello, meanwhile, emerged as the APC candidate after winning the party’s Kogi Central primary with 72,399 votes, according to reports of the primary.
INEC’s September 2026 final list also included both Bello and Natasha among the candidates for Kogi Central.
This means Kogi Central is heading toward one of the most politically consequential senatorial contests in its recent history.
It is not simply Natasha versus Bello.
It is:
Past versus present.
Experience versus fresh representation.
Political structure versus personal mandate.
Executive legacy versus legislative performance.
Established political machinery versus a constituency-driven political identity.
And ultimately:
The people’s memory versus political ambition.
The Real Question Is Not Who Is More Powerful
Yahaya Bello has political experience.
He has governed a state.
He has built a formidable political network.
He has demonstrated considerable influence within the APC.
Those are facts that should not be dismissed.
Natasha also has political experience.
She has survived intense political battles.
She has served in the Senate.
She has built a public identity around constituency projects and advocacy.
She has secured the PDP ticket for another term.
Those realities should not be dismissed either.
Therefore, the 2027 election should not be reduced to insults.
It should be reduced to performance.
Let both candidates publish their records.
Let Bello publish what he achieved in Kogi Central during his eight years as governor.
Let Natasha publish every constituency project she has delivered.
Let both explain their failures.
Let both explain their successes.
Let both tell the people what they intend to do in the Senate.
Then let the people decide.
The People Must Not Be Intimidated By Political Godfathers
There is an important democratic principle at stake here.
No former governor owns a senatorial district.
No incumbent senator owns a senatorial district.
No governor owns a constituency.
No political party owns the electorate.
The people own their votes.
The ballot paper belongs to the voter.
And the mandate belongs to the people.
Therefore, whether the candidate is Yahaya Bello, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan or another contender, the people of Kogi Central must be allowed to make their choice freely.
If Natasha has performed, let the people reward her.
If Bello has a superior record, let the people choose him.
But if political machinery is deployed simply to frighten, intimidate, silence or manufacture consent, then democracy itself becomes the casualty.
Natasha’s Second Term Should Not Be About Revenge
If Natasha wins another term, the biggest mistake she could make would be to spend four years settling political scores.
Her second term should be about institutionalising her achievements.
More water.
More electricity.
Better roads.
More healthcare.
More educational support.
More opportunities for women.
More jobs for young people.
More technology.
More legislative interventions.
More transparency.
And above all, measurable accountability.
She should make Kogi Central a constituency where constituents can ask:
“What has my senator done?”
—and receive an answer supported by documents, locations, beneficiaries and completed projects.
That would be a legacy greater than defeating any political opponent.
And Bello Also Deserves The Right To Make His Case
For fairness, Bello should not be condemned simply because he was governor.
His supporters have their own narrative.
They will point to his payroll reforms, infrastructure projects, security efforts and political achievements.
They will argue that he inherited a financially troubled state.
They will point to the discovery of ghost workers and the government’s attempt to clean the payroll.
They will argue that salary arrears were eventually cleared.
Those arguments should be heard.
But the electorate should equally ask whether the methods used were humane, whether the reforms were efficiently implemented and whether the suffering experienced by workers and pensioners was avoidable.
That is what democracy is supposed to be.
Not propaganda.
Evidence.
Kogi Central Is Bigger Than Natasha and Bello
Ultimately, this election should not be about two personalities.
It should be about millions of dreams.
It should be about the trader in Okene.
The farmer in Adavi.
The student in Okehi.
The young graduate in Ajaokuta.
The civil servant.
The pensioner.
The artisan.
The woman running a small business.
The unemployed young man.
The family struggling to pay school fees.
The community waiting for electricity.
The village waiting for potable water.
These are the people who will ultimately determine who represents them.
And they deserve representatives who understand that political office is not personal property.
It is a trust.
The Final Verdict Belongs to the People
Yahaya Bello may have the political machinery.
Natasha may have the incumbent advantage.
Bello may have eight years of executive experience.
Natasha may have her legislative record.
Bello may have loyalists who believe passionately in his leadership.
Natasha may have constituents who believe she has finally given Kogi Central a voice.
But none of that should replace the ballot.
The most important political institution in Kogi Central is not Bello.
It is not Natasha.
It is not APC.
It is not PDP.
It is the people.
And the people must be allowed to speak.
If the people believe Yahaya Bello deserves another opportunity to serve, let them say so.
If they believe Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan deserves another four years, let them say so.
But let the decision be based on record, character, competence and vision—not intimidation, propaganda or political godfatherism.
Because after all the rallies have ended, after all the posters have faded, after all the political speeches have disappeared from social media, one thing will remain:
The consequences of the people’s choice.
And perhaps that is the greatest question Kogi Central must ask in 2027:
Who has earned the right to represent us—not by the power they once possessed, but by the value they can demonstrate to the people today?
That is the real election.
That is the real debate.
And that is the judgment that history will eventually deliver.
– Ibrahim Jamiu
1ijmuhd@gmail.com
