Developing Scandal: Former Deputy Gov, Rep Member Allegedly on State Govt Payroll

Apolitical veterans from Kogi West Senatorial Zone under the aegis of the Council of Kogi West Elders, (COKOWE), have raised the alarm about the continuing haemorrhagging of the treasury of the state by the political group which has held the state captive.

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A major financial scandal involving a former Deputy Governor and a serving, fourth-term member of the House of Representatives is allegedly brewing as both leaders are reported to be beneficiaries of a gratification scheme calculated to have them hush the strident advocacy for gubernatorial power shift to the Western senatorial zone.

Since the creation of Kogi State almost 35 years ago, and indeed under the 1999 Constitution, the predominantly Okun-Yoruba speaking Kogi West has yet to have an opportunity to lead the state. Conversely, the mostly Igala-speaking Kogi East has produced three governors over a 16-year period, while the Ebira of Kogi Central are in office into the 12th year. There has therefore been an upsurge in the clamour for redress, to narrow the numbers, even as Kogi Central, leveraging its incumbency through Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo, is earnestly canvassing the lengthening of its occupation of Lugard House, Lokoja, to 16 years.

Senator representing Kogi West, Sunday Steve Karimi, ignited the reawakening on the imperative for power shift at a civic event in Kabba last year, which has since reminded the people of the district of their continuing marginalisation in the governance scheme in the state. Groups, leaders, individuals, have since amplified the quest, canvassing 2027 as the appropriate effective timing for the shift. Rotation has become the preferred panacea for political inclusiveness in many states across the country, and has recently been adopted by three more states, Kwara, Nasarawa and Ogun.

Leaders and stakeholders have decided to give marginalised zones and ethnicities, the opportunity to lead their various states, in the spirit of political justice, fairness and equity. Whereas the APC in Kwara State has unanimously zoned the 2027 governorship to Kwara North, which has yet to produce a leader for the state in nearly 28 years of the Fourth Republic, Ogun State has followed suit by zoning the position to the Western district of the state, also known as Yewa land. Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State has equally announced the preference of APC leaders in the state for Nasarawa West to produce his successor.

Usually dependable sources in Government House, Lokoja, informed COKOWE that the “security vote” of Governor Ododo which remains the state government’s “major expenditure item,” has been on the increase in recent months to accommodate new commitments. Arrowheads, considered capable of quietening the clamour for power shift to Kogi West, have reportedly been placed on generous gratifications in perpetuity. Key among them is the Member of the House of Representatives in question, who represents a federal constituency in a state in the South West, and who once paired the late Governor Abubakar Audu, on the governorship ticket in the 2015 election.

Kehinde Samuel Alamoh, former Secretary of the North Central Presidential Council of the All Progressives Congress, (APC) and one of his foot soldiers in Kogi State, indeed said in an interview on Arise Television, Thursday April 16, 2026, that the House of Representatives Member in question has expressly directed his supporters to work for the reelection of Ahmed Ododo. Sources say he has been placed on a monthly subvention of N100million and was recently gifted a Toyota Landcruiser 2025 model SUV. For the last Easter celebrations, he reportedly received honorarium of $100,000.

COKOWE has also been reliably informed that the said former Deputy Governor has also been listed for a monthly payout of N100million. He has in recent weeks become very prominent in the self-serving Okun League of Progressive Elites, (OLOPE), which is championing a second term for Ododo, on the background of an empty gubernatorial performance sheet. He equally received a brand new Toyota Landcruiser SUV, to facilitate his campaign travels. He recently led a delegation of aspirants for the House of Representatives seat for Yagba federal constituency, from Mopamuro council area where he comes from, to a meeting with Ododo. The request was for the zoning of the office to that local government in 2027.

The Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council of the newly upgraded Federal University of Education, Pankshin, Plateau State, who hails from the same aboriginal community in the same council area as the serving Member of the House of Representatives who represents the federal constituency of a South West state, is said to have also received a Toyota Landcruiser in the mindless bazaar. Whether there is also a recurrent subvention line for him from the coffers of the Kogi State Government like the others had not been confirmed at the time of going to press.

COKOWE is genuinely agitated by the industrial scale wastage of the resources of the impoverished people of Kogi State on the altar of selfish politicking. This is even as the state remains retarded across all indices of development. Visible and impacting evidence of the progress being recorded by other states in the overall wellbeing of their constituents and in the improvement of relevant infrastructure, courtesy of increased earnings from the administration of President Bola Tinubu, continue to make our people green with envy and deeply depressed at the same time.

Let it be stated very clearly, however, that no amount of selective bribing of an inconsequential handful of individuals, will suppress or surmount the collective desire of the people of Kogi West for power shift. As a component of the geopolitical tripod which constitutes Kogi State, it is only fair and just that Kogi West aspires to the leadership of the state and is given every support to that effect, the way the votes of the zone has been the decider in successive gubernatorial elections. The aspiration of Kogi West for the governorship of the “Confluence State” as Kogi State is also known, is a battle of “no retreat, no surrender.”

Signed:
For: Council of Kogi West Elders:

1. Alhaji Abdulrahman Abdulaziz (Kogi/Kotonkarfe Federal Constituency)
2. Dr Timothy Medaiyedu (Kabba-Bunu/Ijumu Federal Constituency)
3. Engr Babafemi Olayemi (Yagba Federal Constituency)

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