Pressure is mounting on the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kogi West as youth leaders from Lokoja/Kogi Federal Constituency have framed the coming senatorial primary as a test of the party’s commitment to fairness and rotational balance.
The coalition argues that the contest should not be reduced to personalities, but to whether the APC can correct what they describe as a long-standing imbalance in the district’s representation.
Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, coalition spokesperson Hon. Maiyaki Aliyu Bala said the group was compelled to speak out because of persistent whispers that a candidate may be handpicked ahead of the primary.
He insisted that the youths were not opposed to any individual aspirant, but to any process that short-circuits internal democracy and shuts out legitimate contenders.
Bala anchored the group’s position in history. According to figures he presented to journalists, Lokoja/Kogi Federal Constituency has held the Kogi West senatorial seat for only eight years—two terms—in the entire Fourth Republic. The rest of the time, he noted, the seat has been held by politicians from the Okun area of the district.
By his account, the Okun axis has controlled the seat for nineteen years, rotating it among its own blocs while Lokoja/Kogi waited on the margins. For the coalition, this is not a question of rivalry but of equity: a plea for the APC to recognise that one part of the district has waited far longer than the other for a return to the Senate.
The youth leaders warned that ignoring this history would send the wrong signal, especially to younger party members who look to the APC to model inclusion. They argued that a credible primary—open, competitive, and free of imposition—would give the party moral authority to ask for votes across the entire senatorial district in the general election.
Bala was careful to frame the appeal as constructive, not confrontational. The coalition, he said, wants unity and tranquillity within the APC, not factional battles. But he added that unity cannot be decreed; it has to be earned through a process that all stakeholders consider fair, even if their preferred aspirant does not win.
Political observers in Lokoja note that the statement taps into a familiar sentiment in Kogi West politics, where zoning arrangements are often invoked when tickets are being decided. Whether the APC leadership will formally acknowledge the zoning argument or simply insist on an open contest remains to be seen as the primary date approaches.
For now, the youth coalition says it will continue to engage party leaders quietly and publicly, hoping to prevent a crisis before it starts. Their message, Bala concluded, is simple: let the delegates decide, and let the outcome reflect both the strength of the candidates and the diversity of the district they seek to represent.
