The aspirants also urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to reject any report submitted from the disputed exercise.
Aspirants and members of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in Kogi Central Senatorial District have accused party leaders loyal to former Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, of orchestrating the collapse of the party’s primary elections by allegedly hijacking electoral materials and attempting to impose candidates.
The aggrieved aspirants made the allegation during a press statement, insisting that no valid primary election was conducted anywhere in Kogi Central on Thursday, May 21, 2026, despite thousands of party members waiting for the exercise across Okene, and Ogori/Magongo.
The statement was signed by ADC senatorial aspirant, Prince Murtala Sani Omolori, and other aspirants, including Aisha Ibrahim Adoke, Ado Okikiri Adinnji, Abdulkareem Yusuf, amongst others.
The aspirants accused former senator and ADC senatorial aspirant, Ahmed Salau Ogembe, of masterminding the alleged seizure of election materials.
They noted, “What happened to democracy in Kogi Central under the platform of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) cannot be hidden.”
“Thousands of ADC members across Okene, Ogori, and Magongo waited patiently from morning till now for the Senatorial House of Representatives and State House of Assembly primary elections scheduled for today, 21st May, 2027. But that election was never held,” the statement said.
The aspirants alleged that reports from their agents and party members showed that materials meant for the election never reached designated ward centres.
“According to reports from our agents and party members across the wards, the election materials meant for Kogi Central were intercepted and taken away by the camp of former Senator Ahmed Salau Ogembe, who is himself an aspirant for the ADC Senatorial ticket,” they said.
“No materials arrived at the designated ward centres. No voting took place. No registers were opened. This is not an election. It is theft of the people’s mandate before it even began.”
They further alleged that the incident was a continuation of what they described as a premeditated plot allegedly communicated to the ADC national leadership in earlier petitions dated May 20, 2027.
According to them, the petitions warned that Kogi State ADC executives loyal to Ogembe planned to hijack election materials, relocate voting venues to private homes, and use returning officers allegedly loyal to him to impose candidates.
“This incident is a direct continuation of the illegal plan we warned the ADC National Leadership about in our petitions dated 20th May, 2027,” the aspirants added.
“We stated clearly that: The Kogi State Excos loyal to Senator Ogembe planned to hijack materials and change ward venues to private homes. The returning officers appointed were his known loyalists. The plan was to disenfranchise real party members and impose candidates.
“Today, they have carried out that plan. If the ADC allows this, then we are no different from the parties we claim to be better than.”
The aspirants declared that they would reject any outcome or result announced from what they described as a “fake process.”
“We reject any result or announcement that may be presented from today’s fake process. No election took place. Any result announced is a fraud,” they stated.
They demanded the immediate cancellation of the exercise and called for the constitution of an independent electoral committee from the ADC national secretariat to conduct what they described as a credible direct primary election across all wards in Kogi Central.
The aspirants also urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to reject any report submitted from the disputed exercise.
“We call on INEC to take note that no valid primary was conducted in Kogi Central today and to reject any forged report submitted to them,” they said.
The aspirants further vowed to pursue “all lawful and peaceful means” to defend the mandate of party members in the district and demanded the disqualification of Ogembe and his alleged allies.
“We urge the National working committee to disqualify Senator Ahmed Salau Ogembe and his colleagues,” they added.
They also warned the ADC national leadership that failure to address the crisis would amount to handing Kogi Central back to the ruling All Progressives Congress “through the back door.”
“If ADC is truly the alternative Nigerians are waiting for, then you must act now. Cancel this illegality. Anything short of that means ADC is willing to hand Kogi Central back to APC through the back door,” the aspirants declared.
Meanwhile, a source familiar with the development told SaharaReporters that another aspirant, Kabiru Onimisi Attah, who is contesting the Adavi/Okehi Federal Constituency seat under the ADC, was also allegedly involved in the disruption of the process.
“The two aspirants who masterminded these acts – Kabiru Onimisi Attah, who is an aspirant for Adavi/Okehi Federal Constituency in Kogi State and Senator Ahmed Ogembe, who is a senatorial aspirant for Kogi Central, all in the ADC. All these people are working for Yahaya Bello,” the source alleged.
