The controversy over the All Progressives Congress (APC) senatorial ticket for Kogi West ahead of the 2027 general election intensified on Saturday as the Kogi West Elders Assembly (KWEA) rejected claims by another party group that Hon. Samuel Bamidele Aro won the party’s primary election.
The rebuttal followed a press conference by the Kogi West APC Leaders Forum, which had declared Aro the authentic winner of the APC senatorial primary and urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to stop alleged attempts to substitute his candidacy. The group also appealed to the President to rein in House of Representatives member James Faleke, whom it accused of influencing efforts to overturn the outcome of the primary.
However, in a counter-statement signed by Air Commodore Hafiz Kpareke (rtd.), Dr. Bartholomew Mepaiyeda and Engr. Adetunji Obaro on behalf of the Kogi West Elders Assembly, the elders described the forum’s position as misleading and challenged its claim to represent the political leadership of Kogi West.
According to the assembly, the gathering held at Reverton Hotel in Lokoja was attended mainly by political appointees of the Kogi State Government and lacked the participation of key APC stakeholders in the district.
The elders specifically named former Senator Smart Adeyemi, APC Deputy National Publicity Secretary Duro Meseko, member representing Kabba-Bunu/Ijumu Federal Constituency Idris Salman, National Population Commission Commissioner Yori Afolabi, and Lower Niger Basin Development Authority Managing Director Olusola George Olumoroti among party leaders who neither attended nor were consulted.
KWEA insisted that the APC primary conducted on May 18, 2026, validly produced the incumbent senator, Sunday Steve Karimi, as the party’s candidate, adding that the APC national leadership had already affirmed the outcome.
The assembly also disputed Aro’s claim to the ticket, alleging that both Aro and former Senator Smart Adeyemi had withdrawn from the race before the primary and endorsed Karimi. It further claimed that Aro later attempted to revive his aspiration after the exercise.
The elders recalled that Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo had convened a reconciliation meeting before the primaries, where aspirants were urged to unite behind the eventual winner, questioning the basis for the renewed contest over the ticket.
They described Senator Karimi as a proven political figure with a record of electoral victories and cited his constituency interventions, including education support programmes, healthcare initiatives and infrastructure projects, as reasons for backing his bid for a second term.
Calling for unity within the APC, the assembly urged party members to end internal disputes and work together to secure victory for President Bola Tinubu, Senator Karimi and other APC candidates in the 2027 general election.
The exchange underscores the continuing disagreement within the Kogi West chapter of the APC over the outcome of the senatorial primary, with rival groups advancing conflicting narratives on who legitimately secured the party’s ticket. The APC leadership and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) have yet to issue any fresh public statement in response to the latest claims and counterclaims