# 2023 Kogi State gubernatorial election

The 2023 Kogi State gubernatorial election was held on 11 November 2023 to elect the Governor of Kogi State. Incumbent APC Governor Yahaya Bello was term-limited and could not seek re-election to a third term in office. Ahmed Usman Ododo — 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 nominating Ododo on 15 April while the Peoples Democratic Party nominated former Senator for Kogi West Dino Melaye on 16 April. On 20 May, Ajaka — a former APC aspirant and national APC official — won the nomination of the Social Democratic Party 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 — 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, which upheld the election of Ododo in a ruling in August 2024.

## Electoral system

The Governor of Kogi State is elected using a modified two-round system. 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. 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 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 and two senate seats as the state was won by APC presidential nominee Muhammadu Buhari 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) 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) 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 for Kogi West (2007–2015; 2019–present)
* Abdulkareem Mohammad Jamiu: Chief of Staff to Governor Bello (2019–present)
* Abiodun Faleke: former House of Representatives member for Ikeja (Lagos State) (2011–present) and 2015 APC deputy gubernatorial nominee
* Jibril Momoh: state Accountant General
* Ahmed Usman Ododo: state Auditor-General for Local Government
* Sanusi Ohiare: former Executive Director of the Rural Electrification Agency
* Yakubu Oseni: Senator 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: Senator for Kogi East (2019–present) and 2011 and 2015 PDP gubernatorial candidate
* Mukadam Asiru Idris: Commissioner of Finance
* Babatunde Irukera: 2015 and 2019 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

#### 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.
* Natasha2019 SDP Kogi Central senatorial nominee
* Abubakar Idris: son of former Governor Ibrahim Idris
* Dino Melaye: 2019 PDP gubernatorial candidate and former Senator for Kogi West (2015–2019)
* Musa Wada: 2019 APC gubernatorial nominee and brother of former Governor Idris Wada

#### Emerged Winner

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

## Conduct
### Electoral timetable

On 25 October 2022, the Independent National Electoral Commission released the timetable, setting out key dates and deadlines for the election.
* 14 November 2022 – Publication of Notice of Election
* 27 March 2023 – First day for the conduct of party primaries
* 17 April 2023 – Final day for the conduct of party primaries, including the resolution of disputes arising from them
* 24 April 2023 – First day for submission of nomination forms to INEC via the online portal
* 5 May 2023 – Final day for submission of nomination forms to INEC via the online portal
* 9 June 2023 – Publication of final nominee list
* 14 June 2023 – Commencement of the official campaign period
* 9 November 2023 – Final day of the official campaign period

## General election
### Results

2023 Kogi State gubernatorial election :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | A | | | |
| | AA | Buraimoh Olayinka | | |
| | ADP | Elukpo Julius | | |
| | APP | | | |
| | AAC | | | |
| | ADC | Leke Abejide | | |
| | APM | Isah Dauda | | |
| | APC | Ahmed Usman Ododo | | |
| | APGA | Ilonah Kingsley | | |
| | BP | Muhammed Umar | | |
| | LP | Adejo Okeme | | |
| | New Nigeria Peoples Party | Musa Mubarak | | |
| | NRM | | | |
| | PDP | Dino Melaye | | |
| | PRP | | | |
| | SDP | Muri Ajaka | | |
| | YPP | | | |
| | ZLP | Fatima Suleiman | | |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 782,289 | 100.00% |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | | |

### By senatorial district

The results of the election by senatorial district.
| Senatorial District | TBD APC | TBD APC | TBD PDP | TBD PDP | Others | Others | Total Valid Votes |
| Senatorial District | Votes | Percentage | Votes | Percentage | Votes | Percentage | Total Valid Votes |
| Kogi Central Senatorial District | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD |
| Kogi East Senatorial District | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD |
| Kogi West Senatorial District | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD |
| Totals | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD |

### By federal constituency

The results of the election by federal constituency.
| Federal Constituency | TBD APC | TBD APC | TBD PDP | TBD PDP | Others | Others | Total Valid Votes |
| Federal Constituency | Votes | Percentage | Votes | Percentage | Votes | Percentage | Total Valid Votes |
| Adavi/Okehi Federal Constituency | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD |
| Ajaokuta Federal Constituency | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD |
| Ankpa/Omala/Olamaboro Federal Constituency | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD |
| Bassa/Dekina Federal Constituency | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD |
| Ibaji/Idah/Igalamela/Odolu Federal Constituency | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD |
| Kabba/Bunu/Ijumu Federal Constituency | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD |
| Lokoja Federal Constituency | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD |
| Okene/Ogori-Magogo Federal Constituency | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD |
| Yagba East/Yagba West/Mopamuro Federal Constituency | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD |
| Totals | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD |

### By local government area

The results of the election by local government area.
| LGA | TBD APC | TBD APC | TBD PDP | TBD PDP | Others | Others | Total Valid Votes | Turnout Percentage |
| LGA | Votes | Percentage | Votes | Percentage | Votes | Percentage | Total Valid Votes | Turnout Percentage |
| Adavi | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD | % |
| Ajaokuta | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD | % |
| Ankpa | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD | % |
| Bassa | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD | % |
| Dekina | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD | % |
| Ibaji | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD | % |
| Idah | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD | % |
| Igalamela-Odolu | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD | % |
| Ijumu | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD | % |
| Kabba/Bunu | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD | % |
| Kogi | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD | % |
| Lokoja | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD | % |
| Mopa-Muro | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD | % |
| Ofu | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD | % |
| Okehi | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD | % |
| Okene | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD | % |
| Olamaboro | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD | % |
| Omala | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD | % |
| Yagba East | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD | % |
| Yagba West | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD | % |
| Totals | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD | % | TBD | % |