The Concerned APC Leaders, a coalition of high-ranking stakeholders in the Kogi State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has made a passionate appeal to President Bola Tinubu to disregard the recommendations of Governor Usman Ododo and Hon. Leke Abejide regarding the party’s National Assembly primaries for the 2027 elections, describing them as ‘self-serving’.
In a statement released in Lokoja by the group’s Secretary, Hon. Mohammed Tijani, the stakeholders warned that the advice being offered by Governor Ododo and the Yagba Federal Constituency representative was rooted in personal ambition rather than the strategic interest of the party or the Presidency.
The group alleged that the duo has been deploying “dubious antics”, including the orchestration of fake social media campaigns and the presentation of doctored reports, to convince the President that the current grassroots-favoured candidates were inviable.
“We are compelled to alert Mr. President to the grand deception being played out by Governor Usman Ododo and Hon. Leke Abejide,” the statement read. “Their goal is to mislead the Presidency into discarding popular, battle-tested candidates in favour of their personal loyalists. This is a recipe for electoral disaster.”
The stakeholders argued that the APC candidates currently being targeted by the duo were the very individuals who possessed the local influence and track records necessary to secure victory for the APC and President Tinubu in 2027 elections. They cautioned that allowing the Kogi State governor and Hon. Abejide to hijack the primary process would alienate the party’s base.
“Mr. President, these two individuals are pursuing a narrow agenda that seeks to consolidate personal power at the expense of party cohesion. The candidates they are attempting to de-market are the actual bridge-builders in our communities. To ignore the grassroots in favour of the Governor’s hand-picked choices is to hand our National Assembly seats to the opposition on a platter.”
The Concerned APC Leaders urged President Tinubu to look beyond the “distorted narratives” being fed to the Presidential Villa and instead rely on independent assessments of candidates’ popularity in Kogi State.
“We appeal to President Tinubu, as a master strategist, to ignore the self-serving advice of Governor Ododo and Hon. Leke Abejide. Their antics are already creating unnecessary tension within the party. For the APC to remain the dominant force in Kogi State and deliver a resounding mandate for the President in 2027, the National Assembly primaries must be protected from the manipulative interference of these two individuals,” the group declared.
