In Kogi politics, people remember who stood when standing was dangerous.
Politics is not won in WhatsApp groups. It is not settled by defections. And it is not decided by who stands closest to power at any given moment. Politics, especially in a state like Kogi—is decided by who shows up when it is risky, who stands firm when others retreat, and who can still command the loyalty of the people when fear thickens the air.
By that measure, one name continues to define political reality in Kogi State: His Excellency Yakubu Murtala Ajaka
This is not praise. It is a political fact.
When Politics Was a Test of Courage; There was a period in Kogi State when politics was not conversation, it was survival.
Opposition politics carried real consequences. Silence was safer than speech. Alignment was rewarded; resistance was punished. Many politicians recalculated. Some disappeared from public view. Others negotiated safety. Many chose to wait for a calmer season.
One man did not.
Ajaka stepped forward and confronted a sitting governor directly, not with insults, not with incitement, but with the ballot. He ran as an opposition candidate when opposition was expensive. He campaigned when campaigns were discouraged. He stood firm when standing came with consequences.
As Martin Luther King Jr. once observed, “the ultimate measure of a leader is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” That insight explains why Ajaka’s decision still resonates across Kogi State.
Moments like that matter in politics. Kogi people remember moments like that.
The Number That Rewrote the Script
Courage alone, however, does not make a political leader. Courage must be matched with mobilisation, and mobilisation must be validated by numbers.
In the 2023 governorship election, Ajaka, running on the platform of the Social Democratic Party, polled 259,052 votes statewide. This was achieved against incumbency, against intimidation, and against the full weight of state power.
Let us be clear: no opposition candidate in the political history of Kogi State has ever recorded such a figure.
Those votes did not come from one town or one ethnic block. They came from across the state. They reflected cross-ward penetration, cross-community appeal, and a coalition built not on fear but on trust.
Frederick Douglass warned long ago that “power concedes nothing without a demand.” Those votes were the demand—a collective assertion of political will that forced power to respond.
In politics, numbers do not lie. They expose reality beneath rhetoric. Titles can be inherited, appointments can be negotiated, and defections can be arranged. Votes, especially at that scale, cannot be manufactured without genuine grassroots resonance.
That single election irreversibly reordered the political hierarchy in Kogi East and fundamentally reset the statewide conversation on leadership. It was not a whisper; it was a declaration. As Chief Edward David Onoja acknowledged on national television: “In the 2023 governorship election, my people came out to speak with one voice, and their voice was loud and clear.”
That voice did not merely register dissent; it asserted agency, signaled cohesion, and redefined the balance of political power in Kogi State. Who led this change? It was His Excellency Yakubu Murtala Ajaka.
Office Is Not Leadership: Today, Kogi East has a serving senator, members of the House of Representatives, and several officeholders aligned with the ruling party. Their offices are constitutionally important. Their mandates are legitimate.
But officeholding is not the same thing as political leadership.
Leadership is measured by whether people will follow you when you have no protection, whether your name carries weight beyond your immediate constituency, and whether power reacts when you move.
By these measures, Ajaka stands apart.
Decamping into safety does not erase history. Joining the ruling party after the storm has passed does not confer leadership retroactively. Leadership is earned in the storm—not announced after the rain.
Grassroots Politics: Where Leadership Is Actually Decided
Ajaka’s enduring strength lies in his relationship with the grassroots. Unlike politicians whose relevance is episodic, activated only during election seasons—his engagement with the people has been continuous and cumulative.
His political presence did not begin with ambition, nor did it end with defeat.
Communities remember who showed up when there was nothing immediate to gain. They remember who returned without sirens, who listened without condescension, and who spoke without intimidation.
That is why his name travels faster than campaign posters.
One of the quiet but telling indicators of Ajaka’s grassroots legitimacy is how he moves. Leaders who depend on incumbency often require heavy escorts, layers of protocol, and managed audiences.
Across towns and wards in Kogi East, and increasingly beyond, he engages communities without theatrical displays of power. Local leaders recognise him without introduction. This familiarity is not manufactured; it is earned through repeated contact, empathy, and credibility.
Grassroots politics is not announced. It is acknowledged.
Cross-Community Appeal and Inclusion
Another defining feature of Ajaka’s leadership is the breadth of his appeal. While firmly rooted in Kogi East, his support base cuts across traditional fault lines.
His 2023 votes reflected cross-ward, cross-community penetration—a rarity in a state often fractured by identity politics. This breadth is not accidental. It is the outcome of a political style that emphasises inclusion, restraint, and coalition-building over exclusionary rhetoric.
Trust Built in Adversity, Not Comfort
Perhaps the most decisive factor in Ajaka’s grassroots authority is when his bond with the people was forged. It was not during periods of comfort or protection; it was during adversity.
People remember who stood with them when fear dominated the public space. That memory has a long political shelf life. Votes cast under pressure endure longer than votes mobilised under convenience.
Why Power Pays Attention
It is not accidental that national political actors and federal institutions now pay attention to Ajaka. Power is pragmatic. It does not fear talkers; it watches movers. It responds to numbers, not noise.
A politician who can unsettle calculations without holding office, who can force strategy meetings by mere possibility, is politically consequential.
Hannah Arendt captured this truth succinctly when she wrote that “real power is not given; it is recognized.” Ajaka’s influence today rests not on office, but on recognition, earned over time, tested under pressure, and sustained by trust.
The Noise Around What He Has Not Announced
Perhaps the clearest evidence of Ajaka’s political weight is the agitation provoked by what he has not yet done.
He has not declared for the Kogi East Senatorial seat. Yet alignments are shifting. Calculations are being revised. Conversations have changed.
In politics, only serious contenders create anxiety without speaking. Silence, in such moments, is louder than declarations.
Imitation, Anxiety, and Proxy Attacks
Whenever a politician becomes the benchmark, imitation and resistance follow. Where imitation fails, proxy attacks emerge, anonymous pages, coordinated messaging, indirect assaults.
This is not a weakness.
It is proof of relevance.
Irrelevant politicians are ignored. Relevant ones are contested.
The Ajaka Benchmark Test
Every political era produces a benchmark. In Kogi East today, that benchmark is clear.
Anyone claiming leadership must answer simple questions:
Can you mobilise across wards without incumbency?
Can you withstand pressure without retreat?
Can you command loyalty beyond election cycles?
Can you attract attention without holding an office?
Until someone answers these questions with evidence, the debate remains settled.
Conclusion: Centrality Is Not an Opinion
This is not a claim of perfection. It is a statement of political reality. You may like Ajaka or dislike him. You may support him or oppose him. But you cannot wish him away.
By courage, by numbers, by grassroots connection, and by political impact, Yakubu Murtala Ajaka remains the politician to beat in Kogi East and Kogi State today.
That does not make him invincible. It makes him central. And in politics, centrality is power
– Yusuf M.A. writes from Kogi state.
