The 2023 Kogi State gubernatorial election was held on 11 November 2023 to elect the

Governor of Kogi State This is a list of Kogi State administrators and governors. Kogi State was created on 27 August 1991 out of Benue State and Kwara State. See also *States of Nigeria *List of state governors of Nigeria References *{{cite web , url=http:// ...

. Incumbent APC Governor

Yahaya Bello Yahaya Adoza Bello (; born 18 June 1975) is a Nigerian businessman, politician. He served as the governor of Kogi State from 2016 to 2024. A member of the All Progressives Congress, Bello was the youngest governor in Nigeria throughout his term ...

was term-limited and could not seek re-election to a third term in office.

Ahmed Usman Ododo Ahmed Usman Ododo (born 7 February 1982) is a Nigerian accountant and politician who has served as the governor of Kogi State since 2024. He is a member of the All Progressives Congress. Before he was elected governor of Kogi state, he served ...

— a former state Auditor-General for Local Government — retained the office for the APC by a margin of 24% over first runner-up and SDP nominee Murtala Ajaka. The primaries were scheduled for between 27 March and 17 April 2022 with the

All Progressives Congress The All Progressives Congress (APC) is one of the two major contemporary political parties in Nigeria, along with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Founded on 6 February 2013 from a merger of Nigeria's three largest opposition parties, t ...

nominating Ododo on 15 April while the Peoples Democratic Party nominated former Senator for Kogi West

Dino Melaye Dino Melaye (born 7 January 1974) is a Nigerian politician, a former senator and was a member of the 8th Nigeria National Assembly, representing Kogi West Senatorial district. He is from Ayetoro Gbede in Ijumu Local Government Area of Kogi St ...

on 16 April. On 20 May, Ajaka — a former APC aspirant and national APC official — won the nomination of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

in a rerun primary. After collation completed on the day after the election, INEC declared Ododo as the victor. In the official results, Ododo gained over 446,000 votes (~57% of the vote) to defeat Ajaka with about 259,000 votes (33% of the vote) and Melaye with about 46,000 votes (~6% of the vote). The results were immediately rejected by the runners-up due to widespread reports of irregularities, with candidates and media focusing attention upon three central LGAs — Adavi, Okehi, and

Okene Okene is a town in the Nigerian state of Kogi. The town is based in a Local Government Area of the same name. Okene runs along the A2 highway. It had an area of 328 km2 and a population of 320,260 at the 2006 census. The predominant peo ...

— where both the turnout (83.9%) and Ododo vote share (97.1%) were extremely high. Although he initially stated that he would not challenge the results due to distrust in INEC and the judiciary, Ajaka ultimately filed legal petitions against the election. The legal case eventually reached the

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

, which upheld the election of Ododo in a ruling in August 2024.

Electoral system

The

is elected using a modified

two-round system The two-round system (TRS or 2RS), sometimes called ballotage, top-two runoff, or two-round plurality, is a single-winner electoral system which aims to elect a member who has support of the majority of voters. The two-round system involves one ...

. To be elected in the first round, a candidate must receive the plurality of the vote and over 25% of the vote in at least two-thirds of

local government areas A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a state, province, division, or territory. The ph ...

. If no candidate passes this threshold, a second round will be held between the top candidate and the next candidate to have received a plurality of votes in the highest number of local government areas.

Background

Kogi State Kogi State is a States of Nigeria, state in the North Central Nigeria, North Central region of Nigeria, bordered to the west by the states of Ekiti State, Ekiti and Kwara State, Kwara, to the north by the Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria, Fe ...

is a diverse state in the North Central with a large number of mineral resources but facing an underdeveloped agricultural sector, deforestation, and low vaccination rates. Politically, the state's early 2019 elections were described by a swing towards the APC as the party was mainly successful, unseating almost all PDP senators and house members to sweep most

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

and two

senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

seats as the state was won by APC presidential nominee

Muhammadu Buhari Muhammadu Buhari (born 17 December 1942) is a Nigerian politician who served as the president of Nigeria from 2015 to 2023. A retired Nigerian army major general, he was the military head of state of Nigeria from 31 December 1983 to 27 Augu ...

with over 54%. The House of Assembly election also was a win for the APC as the party won every seat in the assembly. The November election ended similarly with Bello winning election to a second term and the APC gained a senate seat in a rerun election; however, both elections were riddled with irregularities and electoral violence. In Bello's second inaugural address in 2020, he declared that his second term would highlight agricultural development, increasing employment, and improving the state's revenue. Performance-wise, Bello was commended for gender inclusion in his cabinet but his term was immensely controversial as he was criticized for inciting electoral violence, autocratic actions, lies about COVID-19 and vaccines, and further corruption allegations.

Primary elections

The primaries, along with any potential challenges to primary results, will take place between 27 March and 17 April 2022. While no formal zoning agreement is in place, groups from Kogi West Senatorial District (specifically some groups representing the

Okun people The Okun people are the Yoruba speaking people found majorly in Kogi, but with settlements in Kwara, Ekiti, and Ondo states of Nigeria. Their dialects are generally classified in the Northeast Yoruba language (NEY) grouping.Bayo Ijagbemi (199 ...

) have called for the governorship to be zoned to their district with the justification of no elected governor having come from Kogi West beforehand. On the other hand, groups from Kogi Central Senatorial District (specifically some groups representing the

Ebira people The Ebira people are an ethnic-linguistic group of North central Nigeria. Most Ebira people are from Kogi State and Nasarawa State. Their language is usually classified as Nupoid and within the Benue-Congo branch of the Niger-Congo language fami ...

) are pushing for the office to be retained by their district by claiming that Kogi East Senatorial District held the office for over four terms and thus Kogi Central should as well.

All Progressives Congress

Ahead of the APC primary, major questions were asked about which candidate would receive the endorsement of Bello to be his successor. However, after the May 2022 primary for federal positions resulted in several losses for Bello loyalists, new questions emerged over Bello's waning control of the state party.

Purchased forms

* Smart Adeyemi:

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

for Kogi West (2007–2015; 2019–present) * Abdulkareem Mohammad Jamiu: Chief of Staff to Governor Bello (2019–present) * Abiodun Faleke: former

member for Ikeja (Lagos State) (2011–present) and 2015 APC deputy gubernatorial nominee * Jibril Momoh: state Accountant General *

: state Auditor-General for Local Government * Sanusi Ohiare: former Executive Director of the Rural Electrification Agency *

Yakubu Oseni Yakubu Oseni (; born 1975) is a Nigerian politician and a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for Kogi Central Senatorial District of Kogi State, Nigeria. He was elected in the February 2019 Nigerian general elections under the platform ...

for Kogi Central (2019–present) * Salami Ozigi-Deedat: Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs * Murtala Ajaka

Declared

* Dayo Akanmode

Potential

* Toba Adebayo: former Bello administration official *

Jibrin Isah Jibrin Isah (born 28 February 1960) is a Nigerian politician and banker, who is the senator representing Kogi East Senatorial District of Kogi State at the 9th National Assembly. Education Isah attended the LGEA Primary School, Ajiolo-Ojaji ...

for Kogi East (2019–present) and

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

and

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

PDP gubernatorial candidate * Mukadam Asiru Idris: Commissioner of Finance * Babatunde Irukera:

and

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

APC gubernatorial candidate and CEO of the FCCPC * Khalifa Abdulrahman Okene: 2019 APC Kogi Central senatorial candidate * Edward David Onoja: Deputy Governor (2019–present)

Emerged Winner

Ahmed Usman Ododo
won the election and emerged flagbearer of the party for the election.

People's Democratic Party

Purchased forms

* Yomi Awoniyi: former Deputy Governor and son of former Senator

Sunday Awoniyi Chief Sunday Bolorunduro Awoniyi (; 30 April 1932 – 28 November 2007) was a Nigerian politician and tribal aristocrat. He was the ''Aro'' of Mopa, Kogi State, formerly Kabba Province. Popularly called ''sardauna", Awoniyi was a founding mem ...

Potential

* Murtala Ajaka: 2023 SDP gubernatorial Flagbearer His Running mate Sam Abenemi, have both resolved to unite kogites with the slogan ONE KOGI FOR MURISAM. website - www.murisam2023.com, their twitter account @murisam2023, facebook murisam sdp. * Natasha 2019 SDP Kogi Central senatorial nominee * Abubakar Idris: son of former Governor

Ibrahim Idris Ibrahim Idris (; born 1949) is a Nigeria politician and businessman who served as the governor of Kogi State from 2003 to 2008 and from 2008 to 2012. He is a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Idris was succeeded by his brother-in- ...

: 2019 PDP gubernatorial candidate and former

for Kogi West (2015–2019) * Musa Wada: 2019 APC gubernatorial nominee and brother of former Governor

Idris Wada Idris Ichala Wada (; born 26 August 1950) is a Nigerian retired pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some othe ...

Emerged Winner

Dino Melaye
won the election and emerged flagbearer of the party.

Conduct

Electoral timetable

General election

Results

By senatorial district

The results of the election by senatorial district.

By federal constituency

The results of the election by federal constituency.

By local government area

The results of the election by local government area.

Notes

References

{{Nigerian state and local elections

Gubernatorial A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' ma ...

Kogi Kogi State gubernatorial election Kogi State gubernatorial elections Election and referendum articles with incomplete results