The Kogi West Elders Assembly (KWEA) has publicly disowned a meeting held in Lokoja on Saturday, describing it as an unauthorized gathering that misrepresents the outcome of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) senatorial primary for Kogi West.
According to KWEA, the gathering, billed as a press conference on regional development, was attended by several state government appointees and party figures, including the Commissioner for Science and Innovation, Helen Aderibigbe; the General Manager of the State Hotels and Tourism Board, Philip Orebiyi; the Director-General of the State Bureau of Public Procurement, Joshua Sunday Ehimony; a former state lawmaker, Eric Fiki; and the APC’s state youth leader, Buhari Lokoja, among others.
In a statement signed by three KWEA representatives: Air Commodore Hafiz Kpareke (Lokoja/Kotonkarfe Federal Constituency), Dr Bartholomew Mepaiyeda (Kabba-Bunu/Ijumu Federal Constituency), and Engr Adetunji Obaro (Yagba Federal Constituency), the elder’s group said the forum’s central claim — that the May 18, 2026 senatorial primary produced a winner other than incumbent Senator Sunday Steve Karimi — is false.
The elders’ group maintained that Karimi won the primary with more than 50,000 votes and that the result was affirmed by the APC’s national leadership.
KWEA noted that prominent Kogi West APC figures — among them three-term Senator Smart Adeyemi, Deputy National Publicity Secretary Duro Meseko, House of Representatives member Idris Salman, National Population Commission representative Yori Afolabi, and Olusola George Olumoroti — were not consulted and did not attend the meeting. The group argues this makes the forum’s claim to speak for the zone’s leadership untenable.
The statement also addressed Samuel Aro, a former House of Representatives member (2007–2011), who along with Adeyemi had withdrawn from the primary in support of Karimi. KWEA alleged that Aro later reversed his publicly posted withdrawal and is now asserting a claim to victory in a contest he did not participate.
KWEA referenced a peace meeting Governor Ododo convened ahead of the primaries, at which party stakeholders were urged to set aside rivalries for the sake of the APC’s overall success, and questioned what had changed since then.
The elders’ statement laid out Karimi’s record as grounds for their support: three general election wins — two terms in the House of Representatives (2011, 2015) before his election to the Senate in 2023 — alongside a bursary scheme for indigent students and infrastructure work in education, security and healthcare. It also credited him with recent road rehabilitation contracts linking Kogi West with Kwara and Ekiti states.
KWEA closed by urging Kogi West stakeholders to set aside “divisive politics” and unite behind President Bola Tinubu, Senator Karimi, and the party’s other candidates ahead of the January 2027 elections.
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