By Omeiza Umaru
As the 2027 elections approach, the political temperature in Kogi State is rising, especially in Kogi Central Senatorial District. Former Governor Yahaya Bello, who served as governor from 2016 to 2024, is reportedly positioning himself to secure the All Progressives Congress (APC) senatorial ticket for Kogi Central.
But beneath the surface of these ambitions lies a dangerous political trap, one capable of fracturing the APC, alienating voters across the district, and weakening President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s national electoral prospects.
Here is the blunt truth: having a governor and a senator who hail from the same ward, the same local government area, and the same senatorial district, especially when the public widely perceives them as cousins, is a recipe for resentment, protest votes, and potentially catastrophic backlash.
Yahaya Bello handpicked his successor, Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo, who won under the APC. Both men come from the same ward, the same LGA, and the same senatorial district, an arrangement many Kogites already find politically new in Kogi.
Now, with rumours circulating that Bello is eyeing the 2027 APC senatorial ticket for Kogi Central, the optics have grown even worse. For a senatorial district made up of five distinct local government areas, Adavi, Ajaokuta, Okehi, Okene, and Ogori-Magongo, giving both the governorship and the senatorial seat to individuals from the same small political nucleus is a clear provocation.
If the APC hands Bello the ticket, the political consequences will be immediate and far-reaching:
• Other LGAs—Adavi, Ajaokuta, Okehi, Ogori-Magongo, will likely revolt.
They will see the move as an attempt to lock down political power in one tiny corner
• Protest votes will sweep across the senatorial district.
Voters who feel excluded do not stay silent. They punish their party at the polls.
• The backlash will not stop at the senatorial race.
It will ripple into the governorship, the state assembly, and, most dangerously, the presidential election.
A Threat to President Tinubu’s 2027 Votes; The optics of what many will interpret as a “state capture” could poison the APC brand not only in Kogi State central but across Kogi state . President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who needs every available vote in 2027, could become an unintended casualty of avoidable political insensitivity.
The narrative will be simple and damaging:
“APC in Kogi is controlled by one ‘family’, one ward, one godfather.”
Such narratives, once embedded, become powerful tools for opposition mobilization.
Governor Ododo’s Good Work Could Be Undermined as well. Governor Ododo is performing impressively, delivering visible improvements even though he is not on the ballot in 2027. But protest votes are emotional, not rational. The public may take out their frustration on the broader APC structure, weakening Ododo’s moral authority and destabilizing the political environment he needs to govern effectively.
Giving Yahaya Bello the Kogi Central senatorial ticket in 2027 would not just be a political misstep, it would be a blunder:
• a blunder against the APC in Kogi
• a blunder against Governor Ododo’s political stability
• a blunder against President Tinubu’s 2027 prospects
No political party survives when it alienates its own base.
The Path Forward: Fairness and Inclusion
The APC must resist the temptation of narrow power consolidation. The strength of a political party lies in fairness, rotation, balance, and inclusion. Kogi Central deserves equitable representation across its five LGAs—not a concentration of positions in one ward.
The message is simple:
If the APC truly wants to win, and to protect President Tinubu’s 2027 votes, it must promote fairness and avoid decisions that provoke avoidable rebellion at the polls.
And 2027 will reflect the choices made today.
Omeiza Umaru writes from Lokoja, omeiza2@hotmail.com