APC Wins All 21 Kogi Chairmanship Seats, 239 Councillorships as Opposition Rejects Polls

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has won all 21 chairmanship seats and 239 councillorship positions in Kogi State’s local government elections, according to results announced by the Kogi State Independent Electoral Commission (KOSIEC).

KOSIEC Chairman Mamman Nda Eri declared the results during a press conference at the commission’s headquarters in Lokoja in the early hours of Sunday, following Saturday’s voting.

While APC stakeholders celebrated the outcome, opposition figures rejected the exercise, questioning its conduct and credibility.

KOSIEC Explains Exclusion of Major Opposition Parties

Nda Eri said 12 political parties satisfied the statutory requirements and were cleared to participate across the state’s 21 local government areas.

According to him, the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Social Democratic Party (SDP) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were among the parties not cleared because they failed to meet documentation requirements and submission deadlines.

The commission chairman described the elections, organised across 239 electoral wards and 3,508 polling units, as peaceful, free, fair and credible.

He maintained that the exercise complied with the KOSIEC Law 2025 and the Electoral Act 2022.

CNPP Rejects Exercise

The Kogi State Chairman of the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP), Comrade Mohammed Kabir Abdullahi, disputed the commission’s assessment, asserting that no genuine election took place.

“This is the biggest mockery of democracy in the 21st century. We thought our democracy had grown, but unbeknownst to us, we have taken 10 steps backward,” Abdullahi said in a statement.

His criticism centred on the credibility of the process that produced the APC’s victory in every chairmanship and councillorship contest.

PDP Alleges Diversion of Election Materials

The PDP’s Organising Secretary in Kogi State, Abdulkadir Ibrahim, also challenged the conduct of the exercise.

He alleged that election materials were taken to unknown locations instead of being delivered to the designated polling units and local government areas.

The allegation was separate from KOSIEC’s explanation for excluding the party. The information available for this report did not include the commission’s response to the alleged diversion of materials.

The results add to developments in grassroots governance in Kogi, where a court case concerning the tenure of local government officials has also drawn attention to council administration.

With the declaration, the APC has secured every council chairmanship and ward councillorship position contested in the exercise, while the commission and opposition figures remain divided over its credibility.