By joshua 
Performance As Shield: How Karimi’s Track Record Silenced Detractors And Made 2027 A Done Deal
By Abu Micheal
When performance speaks, propaganda dies. In Kogi West, that is the story of Senator Sunday Steve Karimi.
For a Senator who came from the Yagba Federal Constituency into the Senate with the tag of a quiet operator, his two years in the Red Chamber have redefined what representation means since 1999.
In a district that has produced Senators of note, constituents today rate Karimi as the best performing Senator in the history of Kogi West, not by mouth, but by projects you can see, touch and feel. And that is why, despite the familiar politics of vilification, pull him down syndrome and sponsored spanners in the wheel, his journey back to the Senate beyond 2027 is already a done deal. His constituents have become his shield.
Karimi is no newcomer to legislative excellence. His story was built from the foundation of two impactful terms representing Yagba Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, where he was known for constituency presence and legislative diligence.
He brought that same template to the Senate, but on a larger scale. Today, people outside Kogi West wish he was their Senator. A man of deliberate effort, not noise, Senator Karimi has delivered constituency projects that cut across all sectors, touching water, power, health, security, roads, education and human capital development in a manner many describe as first of its kind since the return of democracy.
In the area of water, he has rehabilitated over 140 boreholes and constructed over 90 new solar powered boreholes across Lokoja, Kabba Bunu, Yagba East, Yagba West, Ijumu, Mopamuro and Koton Karfe. For many communities, it was the first time in 20 years they saw clean water flow again. He has lit up Kogi West with more than 500 communities provided with transformers and solar powered streetlights, with over 100 units of 500KVA and 300KVA transformers distributed to end decades of darkness and boost night time economic activities. On roads and connectivity, he has facilitated over two billion naira worth of rural road interventions and lobbied for the historic 128.7 billion naira federal road approvals covering the 104 billion naira Ilorin Omu Aran Egbe Kabba Obajana road and the 24.7 billion naira Kabba Omuo Ifaki Ado road, a federal presence never witnessed before in the district.
Perhaps most outstanding is his intervention in security. He personally financed and built the first state of the art Forward Operating Base in Egbe, Yagba West, at a cost of over 750 million naira and handed it over to the Nigerian Army to secure the Kogi Kwara Ekiti border corridor, in addition to facilitating security patrol vehicles and equipment for local vigilantes.
In health, he constructed a Cottage Hospital in Edoo, Lokoja Local Government Area, and facilitated medical outreaches that have attended to over ten thousand rural dwellers.
His legislative punch is equally loud. He has sponsored over ten bills, including the amendment to the Central Bank of Nigeria Act, and moved over thirty motions on national and regional importance, a robust defense of his people on the floor that has placed him among the first eleven most active Senators in the 10th Senate.
He has also extended scholarship support to over one thousand students and distributed empowerment tools, agricultural inputs and cash grants to market women and youths across the seven local government areas.
Beyond his constituency scorecard, Senator Karimi has distinguished himself as one of the most consistent and visible champions of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s second term mandate. He has not limited this advocacy to his senatorial district alone. Across Kogi State, from Kogi West to Kogi East and Central, he has propagated the Renewed Hope Agenda, explaining its gains and mobilizing grassroots support for the President.
Through town halls, stakeholders meetings, media engagements and strategic interventions, he has linked his own performance to the larger vision of President Tinubu, insisting that continuity at the center guarantees more infrastructure, more security and more prosperity for Kogi State.
His open and unapologetic support for President Tinubu’s re-election has made him a rallying point for the All Progressives Congress in the state.
“I remain committed to bringing more developmental projects and democratic benefits to the people of Kogi West”, Senator Karimi had said during his second year media parley in Lokoja. That is the true purpose of leadership. And the people have taken him at his word.
In politics, it is easy to sponsor a headline. It is difficult to erase a borehole that is working, a transformer that is humming, or a military base that is protecting lives. Every attempt to distract Senator Karimi has failed because the people see. In Kabba, in Egbe, in Isanlu, in Lokoja, in Mopamuro, the projects speak. The old woman who now fetches water in her backyard, the youth who charges his phone under solar light, the farmer whose produce now reaches the market because the road is passable, they have become his defenders.
Having spent his entire life in service to his people, from his days in private enterprise to his two terms in the House of Representatives and now in the Senate, Senator Karimi exemplifies selfless service that asks for nothing but the progress of his people.
For such a life of sacrifice, dedication and unbroken commitment to the welfare of Kogi West, the reward for such selfless service should mean more reward, as an example to others that service truly pays. That reward is to return him to the Senate beyond 2027 to continue the good work he has started, while continuing to be a strong pillar for President Ahmed Bola Tinubu’s second term across Kogi State and beyond.
“We have never had it this good. Since 1999, no Senator has touched every LGA like this. Karimi does not make noise, he delivers, a community leader in Yagba East said. Another women leader in Kabba Bunu added, they can write anything online, but we know who is working. That is why we will return him and follow him where he leads us on President Tinubu”.
Senator Sunday Karimi has proven to be a Senator for all seasons, calm under provocation, strategic in lobbying, and deliberate in execution. He does not respond to propaganda with press wars, he responds with more projects.
As 2027 approaches, the voices in Kogi West are unanimous. The man who has turned representation into roads, water, light, security and hope has earned the right to continue beyond 2027. His performance is his campaign. His people are his shield.