By joshua All Options Considered, Sen. Karimi Has The Strong Conviction Of Kogi West
By Abu Micheal
As the 2027 general elections inch closer, one conviction is already settled in Kogi West Senatorial District. The people are not prepared to toy with a mandate that has met with their yearning and aspirations. That mandate is currently being held by Senator Sunday Karimi.
Right from the blast, after inauguration, the Senator has never minced words. “My people are my priority,” he has repeatedly said, and in less than three years that statement has translated into representation that has brought the unusual close to the doorsteps of the people, water, roads, schools, empowerment, jobs, and security.
In town hall meetings across the three federal constituencies, Senator Karimi has been presenting his scorecard directly to constituents. At a recent engagement in Kabba, headquarters of Kabba/Bunu LGA, he disclosed that about 800 students from Kabba/Bunu and Ijumu had benefited from the Sunday Steve Karimi Education Foundation/Tinubu Support Group bursary scheme between 2024 and 2025, with each student receiving N100,000. He added that 1,000 students benefited from his scholarship scheme in Kogi West in 2024, while 3,000 students benefited across the state in 2025. He was clear that the annual bursary is personally funded and not part of constituency project funds.
That commitment to education is also visible in bricks and mortar. He highlighted the construction of schools, a N10 million donation to the Anglican Church Nursing School, Iyara, and the construction of three blocks of classrooms at Odo-Ape St Barnabas and Iluke. Beyond that, he facilitated the upgrade of Government Science Secondary School, Koton Karfe at a cost of over N1.2 billion, and is pushing for four new 275-capacity Computer-Based Test centres across the senatorial district to be ready for 2027 JAMB and WAEC.
On infrastructure, the story is the same. Karimi said he had provided solar-powered boreholes in several communities in Kabba/Bunu-Ijumu federal constituency to improve access to potable water. Records show the project is a N1.24 billion intervention for 140 boreholes — 75 new solar-powered ones and 65 rehabilitated schemes — spread across villages that once walked miles for clean water. He also facilitated about N2 billion for the rehabilitation of the Kabba-Egbe road and secured an additional N6 billion from the Minister of Works to bring the contractor back to site after 11 years of abandonment. The long-abandoned Kabba–Mopa–Isanlu–Egbe road has now been revived with N9 billion secured for its reconstruction. The Senator also personally funded the reconstruction of the Pakuta Bridge, valued at more than N17 million, which links Aiyegunle Gbede, Kiri Kingdom, Kupa North and South, and parts of Niger State.
Power and livelihoods have not been left out. Transformers have been provided across the seven LGAs to power small businesses, while over 500 traders in Lokoja have received business support and 50 women cooperatives accessed N100 million funding. On security, he singlehandedly funded a N750 million Forward Operating Base for the Nigerian military to bolster security in areas bordering Kogi, Kwara, and Niger states.
The impact has not gone unnoticed. “Sen. Karimi’s focus on enhancing well-being through initiatives is commendable,” says Rukayat Suleiman, President of Unique Ladies Association Lokoja. “His efforts have improved our lives”. A chieftain of the APC in Lokoja, Hon. Suleiman Babadoko, also noted that what Senator Karimi has brought into Kogi West in terms of impact is unprecedented.
It is this track record that has shaped the current mood in Kogi West. For now, the people seem comfortable that the principles of equity and rotation should be respected, with the view that Yagba Federal Constituency should exhaust its turn in the senatorial seat. But beyond zoning, the conversation is about performance. Constituents point to a footprint that cuts across critical sectors and argue that effective representation should be measured by systems that outlive individuals, structures that deliver consistently, and service that can be verified.
2027 may still be far away, but in market squares, motor parks, and community meetings across Kogi West, the resolve is already forming. The people are saying that a senator with this trajectory deserves to return and complete the good works he has started. For them, democracy is not about noise, it is about roads that open, water that flows, children that get scholarships, and communities that feel government.
In the words of those who have watched closely, Karimi has turned representation into roads, jobs, and hope for Kogi West. And for a district that has waited long for visible impact, that is the only currency that matters.