By joshua By Ralph Omololu Agbana
2027: Team Kogi West, TKW, Seek Total Support for Tinubu, Karimi
A group identified as *Team Kogi West (TKW)* — comprising politicians, professionals and associates from all callings — has declared total support for the re-election of President Bola Tinubu and the Senator representing Kogi West, Sunday Karimi. Towards achieving this goal, the group said it would pool resources together and set up its own team of grassroots mobilizers across the seven local government areas in Kogi West Senatorial District and across party lines. The structure, it stressed, will be fully operated and funded by TKW, independent of Senator Karimi and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Kogi West encompasses Koton-Karfe, Lokoja, Kabba-Bunu, Ijumu, Mopamuro, Yagba East and Yagba West Local Government Areas, which constitute the three federal constituencies of Lokoja/Koton-Karfe, Kabba-Bunu/Ijumu and Yagba. It is arguably the most populous senatorial zone, being home to the state capital, Lokoja, the seat of the state’s bureaucracy and host to several federal, state and privately-owned institutions, including the Federal University Lokoja (FUL), Kogi State Polytechnic, and several detachments of the Nigerian military.
The disclosure was made at two separate stakeholders’ engagements held on Friday and Saturday in Odo-Ere, headquarters of Yagba West Local Government, and Egbe respectively, where five representatives from the 14 electoral wards were engaged — seven each from the Area Council and Egbe (Town Council). Addressing the meetings held at Fantasy Hotel, Odo-Ere, and the private residence of one of its members at Bareke, Egbe, the group, led by former member of the Kogi State House of Assembly, Hon. (Barr.) Toyin Lawal, reiterated that its mission was not designed to conflict with Senator Karimi’s or the APC’s campaign structures, but to ensure proper coordination and to keep the group on top of its activities ahead of the January 16th Presidential and National Assembly elections. Starting with Yagba West as the pilot scheme, Lawal disclosed that the group plans to engage five representatives from each of the 85 electoral wards in Kogi West to connect with the grassroots and for feedback purposes.
Various speakers at the two meetings commended Senator Karimi for his performance across Kogi West in his current term, while also pointing out some communities where his impact has not been fully felt, especially in the Area Council, and making a case for him to follow the footsteps of other lawmakers who have empowered constituents with vehicles, cash and more support for cooperative societies, especially for men.
They unanimously emphasized the need to acknowledge grassroots workers, who bear the primary burden of campaign efforts. They condemned the tendency to sideline local workers once an election is over, in favor of urban elites.
Responding, members of the group noted that Senator Karimi’s populist empowerment programmes, such as the annual bursary awards to 100 indigenous students, were designed to cut across all communities in the 85 electoral wards. Similarly, they explained that the distribution of transformers, solar streetlights, solar-powered and industrial boreholes are projects embarked upon by Karimi to boost power supply from the national grid, keep communities out of darkness, and ensure no community is left without access to clean water. While admitting that the Senator could not possibly reach every community at once, the group said it had noted the concerns raised and would ensure no community in the Area Council is left untouched.
The group disclosed that Senator Karimi would launch a mega empowerment programme in the days ahead, adding that the delay became necessary to ensure proper planning and fair distribution of the items amongst prospective beneficiaries across the senatorial district, without resentment. Lawal dismissed insinuations that the upcoming empowerment was an afterthought or because elections are near.
He said: “It is not true that the empowerment is coming because of the election. Actually, you know we have a peculiar problem in Kogi West. Simply put, we don’t have roads. Our road from Kabba to Ilorin is only a road in name. It does not exist anymore. And the focus of the senator has been on this road. Unlike his counterparts, he couldn’t really focus on the empowerment of giving people cars, motorcycles, tricycles, generators and the rest. His focus has actually been on that road, and you can see the effort he has made from the construction works from Ejiba to Isanlu, for now, so that the road can be motorable for our people including farmers, traders and transporters. He is also going to embark on the type of empowerment people are expecting, and that one is coming very soon.”
Other members of the group present at the meetings included the Lagos-based duo of Senior Chattered Accountants, Elder Sunday Ajayi (one-time Caretaker Chairman of Yagba West Council) and Mr. Oludare Abolaji.
Also present is APC chieftan, Chief Sunday Aremu, the Agbana of Opada-Egbeland, and Pastor Ibitayo Asalu, Member, Nigeria Institute of Town Planners (NITP) and clergyman, based in Port Harcourt.
After the meeting, Lawal spoke to journalists on the scope and mission of TKW. Excerpts: “The scope is going beyond Yagba West. It is for Kogi West Senatorial District as a whole. Actually, the five of us that you see here today represent the face of this group for now. We have other members who are contributing financially to the activities of the group. And the group is basically for the re-election of President Bola Tinubu and Senator Sunday Karimi.
“You can see that we held two separate meetings yesterday (Friday) and today (Saturday) at Odo-Ere and Egbe respectively, where we engaged five representatives from each of the seven wards from the Area Council and seven wards from Egbe. They were able to tell us exactly what they want. Because what we want actually is to connect with the people in terms of hearing the truth from them. We don’t want to have intermediaries between us and the people. We want to know how they really feel about the senator, what they want us to do and how they intend us to go about it, and we’ve been able to have very good feedback from them.”