By joshua THE IGALA, ABUJA AND THE TINUBU FACTOR
Why federal appointments, security investments, political access and memories of the Obasanjo years are shaping Kogi East’s conversation ahead of 2027
By Pastor Stanley Ajileye
ANKPA, KOGI STATE — There was something unusually emphatic about the political conversation in Ankpa on September 17.
It was not merely another gathering of politicians campaigning for votes. It was a town hall meeting organised by Win With Tinubu (WWT), a grassroots mobilisation programme sponsored by Senator Sunday Steve Karimi, representing Kogi West Senatorial District, and Senator Jibrin Isah Echocho, representing Kogi East.
The objective was clear: to mobilise grassroots support for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
But beneath the familiar language of political mobilisation was a more intriguing conversation. Again and again, speakers returned to what they described as the renewed federal recognition of Kogi East, particularly the Igala people.
The meeting, held at the Atiele Oma Idoko Hall in Ankpa under the theme “Unity for Sustainable Development in Kogi East Senatorial District,” brought together political actors, traditional rulers, community leaders and other stakeholders from Ankpa Federal Constituency, comprising Ankpa, Omala and Olamaboro Local Government Areas. The meeting recorded strong declarations of support for Tinubu’s re-election.
But perhaps the most striking expression came from the traditional institution.
The Onu of Ankpa, HRM, Abdullahi Umar, speaking emphatically at his palace when the WWT team visited him, told the journalists present:
“Let the journalist among you note this: we in this place are for Tinubu; we will vote for him. He is our choice; his re-election is sacrosanct.”
It was a remarkable political declaration, not least because it came from a traditional authority at a gathering where the political message was already unmistakable.
Yet the more important question for the political historian may not be whether one particular gathering endorsed Tinubu. It is why the federal government has become, in the eyes of many of those who spoke at Ankpa, a source of renewed hope and political confidence.
That question takes us beyond the 2027 election.
It takes us to Abuja.
For some of the Kogi East stakeholders at the Ankpa meeting, there appears to be a distinction between their experience of politics within the structure of the APC in Kogi State and their perception of the APC-led Federal Government.
Their position is essentially that, while there may be frustration with the distribution of political opportunities within the state, the Tinubu administration at the federal level has given the Igala and Kogi East a reason to remain politically connected to the national ruling party.
That distinction is important.
It suggests that political loyalty to the federal APC in Kogi East cannot necessarily be explained only by what happens within the state party structure. It may also be influenced by the perception of access to the national political centre.
And for a people with a long history of political engagement at the federal level, access to Abuja matters.
One of the strongest arguments heard from the Igala community in recent months concerns federal appointments.
In July 2026, the Ukomu Igala Organization publicly expressed appreciation to President Tinubu for what it described as his inclusive appointments of Igala and Bassa sons and daughters to important positions in the Federal Government.
The organisation specifically mentioned the Chief of Army Staff, the Minister of Steel Development, the Director General of the National Population Commission and the Director General of the National Boundary Commission, among others. It described the appointments as evidence of confidence in Igala and Bassa professionals.
Whether appointments should be interpreted primarily as ethnic representation, merit-based selection or a combination of both is a matter for political debate. But there is little doubt about their symbolic importance.
For communities that feel insufficiently represented, an appointment to a prominent federal position is more than the appointment of an individual.
It can be interpreted as a message from the centre: you are seen, you are relevant, and you have a place at the table.
That perception can have enormous political consequences.
The Ankpa meeting demonstrated that this perception is not confined to elite conversations in Abuja. Speakers at the gathering pointed specifically to federal appointments as part of the reason they believe the Tinubu administration deserves continued support.
If appointments represent symbolic federal presence, security infrastructure represents something more tangible.
Kogi East like other part of Kogi State, has in recent years faced serious security challenges, including kidnapping, armed robbery and communal insecurity. The establishment of the 21 Battalion Barracks in Anyigba has therefore assumed significance beyond the military itself.
In June 2026, Kogi State Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo inspected the newly established 21 Battalion Barracks in Anyigba and credited President Tinubu’s security investments with strengthening the security architecture of the state. The governor said the military presence had contributed to improved security in Kogi East.
At the Ankpa town hall, speakers also pointed to the expansion of the federal security architecture, including the Anyigba military formation and the Naval Base at Abocho in Dekina Local Government Area, as evidence of increased federal presence in Kogi East.
This is politically significant.
A federal appointment is experienced through an individual.
A federal security installation is experienced geographically.
It places the Nigerian state physically within the community.
For residents who have lived through years of insecurity, the arrival of a military formation can therefore be interpreted not merely as an administrative decision, but as evidence that Abuja is paying attention to their security.
Then there is history.
Several of the arguments being made today in Kogi East evoke memories of the presidency of Olusegun Obasanjo between 1999 and 2007.
The Obasanjo years occupy an interesting place in Kogi’s political history. During that period, Kogi East remained politically powerful within the state, producing Late Abubakar Audu and subsequently Ibrahim Idris (also late) as governors. Historical accounts also document the significant political influence of the eastern senatorial district during that era.
There were also prominent appointments involving people from Kogi during the Obasanjo years. Historical accounts record, for example, the appointment of Emmanuel Dangana Ocheja, an Igala political figure, as chairman of the board of Integrated Data Services Limited, an NNPC subsidiary, in 2005.
Another prominent Igala figure, Stephen Achema, served briefly as Special Adviser to President Obasanjo on Civil Society Organisations and Labour Matters before his death in 1999. Contemporary accounts of his life describe his close relationship with the PDP establishment and his political importance to the Igala community.
The point is not to establish that every Igala person prospered under Obasanjo or that the Federal Government deliberately favoured the Igala.
Rather, it is to understand the political memory that has survived.
Among some Igala stakeholders, the Obasanjo era is remembered as a period when their people had meaningful visibility and access around the federal centre.
That memory now provides a reference point against which the Tinubu presidency is being assessed.
This is where the Kogi East political equation becomes particularly interesting.
The argument emerging from the Ankpa meeting appears to be less about blind loyalty to a political party and more about perceived political utility.
In simple terms: what does our relationship with the government at the centre mean for us?
That is an old question in Nigerian politics.
Political communities frequently assess federal administrations through the appointments they receive, the projects that reach their communities, the security attention they attract and the political access their leaders enjoy.
For the Igala, this calculation has an additional dimension because Kogi East is the largest senatorial district in the state by geographical and population significance, comprising nine local government areas.
Yet the political fortunes of Kogi East at the state level have not always translated into a corresponding sense of satisfaction among all its political stakeholders.
That tension has become increasingly visible in contemporary Kogi politics.
Recent reporting on the state’s political landscape, for example, has documented complaints from Kogi East about the distribution of state appointments and representation under the current administration. Those complaints coexist with strong support for Tinubu among several Kogi East political actors.
This apparent contradiction is actually central to understanding the Tinubu factor.
A person can be dissatisfied with the distribution of political power within a state and simultaneously believe that the federal government deserves support.
There is no contradiction if the two levels of government are being judged separately.
There is another historical dimension that should not be ignored.
The relationship between the Igala and the Yoruba is much older and more complicated than contemporary partisan politics.
Igala and Yoruba are distinct ethnic identities, but their languages belong to the Yoruboid branch of the Niger-Congo language family. Centuries of migration, trade, intermarriage, political interaction and cultural exchange have created historical connections between communities on both sides of the Niger.
That history becomes politically relevant because President Tinubu is himself a major figure in Yoruba political history.
For some Igala observers, therefore, the present relationship with a Yoruba-led Federal Government cannot be completely divorced from the long history of interaction between the two peoples.
But it would be misleading to reduce Igala support for Tinubu simply to an Igala-Yoruba ethnic connection.
The evidence from the Ankpa meeting points to something more practical: appointments, security, federal presence, development and political access.
In other words, history may provide the background, but contemporary interests provide the immediate political motivation.
The most significant thing about the September 17 meeting may therefore not be the size of the crowd or even the declarations of support.
It is the argument underneath those declarations.
The argument is that the Igala people are watching Abuja.
They are watching who gets appointed.
They are watching where federal institutions are established.
They are watching where security investments are made.
They are watching which roads receive federal attention.
They are watching which of their sons and daughters are given opportunities to serve.
And, perhaps most importantly, they are asking whether the government at the centre sees them as politically important.
That is why the words of the Onu of Ankpa carried particular weight.
“Let the journalist among you note this…”
It was almost as if the traditional ruler understood that political declarations made at a town hall disappear quickly unless someone records them.
His next words were therefore unmistakable:
“We in this place are for Tinubu; we will vote for him. He is our choice; his re-election is sacrosanct.”
Whether that declaration will ultimately be replicated across every community in Kogi East is a question that only the electorate can answer at the ballot box.
But as a snapshot of the political mood expressed at the Ankpa town hall, it is difficult to miss its significance.
The WWT meeting was designed to mobilise support for Tinubu. Its organisers came with that objective openly declared. The participants knew why they had gathered.
Yet within that organised political environment emerged a broader narrative about the relationship between Kogi East and Abuja.
It is a narrative about recognition.
It is a narrative about access.
It is a narrative about representation.
And it is also a narrative about memory.
For some Igala stakeholders, the political lesson of the past appears to be that when the centre opens its doors, the community must know how to enter.
That may ultimately be the most important part of the Tinubu factor in Kogi East.
The question before the Igala electorate is not simply whether Tinubu is an APC president.
It is whether the federal relationship they believe they are building today represents a political opportunity they are prepared to preserve.
And that is a question that extends far beyond one town hall meeting in Ankpa.
It goes to the enduring Nigerian political reality that communities do not merely vote for parties; they also vote according to their perception of access, inclusion, representation and the possibility of influence at the centre of power.
Therefore, ahead of January 2027 general election, one can boldly congratulate President Tinubu.