By joshua Why Karimi Will Win And Win Convincingly In 2027: Performance Has Ended Propaganda In Kogi West Representation.
By Our Reporter
Since 1999, representation of the people of Kogi West Senatorial District has remained largely undefined, a routine of promises without proof. But the coming of Senator Sunday Steve Karimi has proved otherwise. Kogi West has now become a reference positively, with the Senator becoming an envy in quality representation across Kogi State.
Today, most constituencies in Kogi State wish they have a Senator representing them in the mould of Senator Karimi. This is not far fetched as his footprint speaks volumes in all areas of representation. From Kabba to Lokoja, from Egbe to Koton-Karfe, from Iyara to Mopa, every town and village has shared in the much talked about dividends of democracy.
What then makes a modern Senator? The modern Senator must possess three qualities: capacity to make laws, capacity to attract projects, and capacity to touch lives directly. Senator Karimi possesses all three and has effectively used them to the admiration of the people.
As Chairman Senate Committee on Services, he has legislative weight. Official National Assembly records show he has sponsored strategic bills including the Federal University of Agriculture, Kabba Establishment Bill which has now passed all legislative stages and awaits presidential assent, the Bill to bar CBN Governor and deputies from partisan politics, the Federal Highway Act Amendment Bill and Electoral Act Amendment Bill, plus motions on road funding and national unity. When assented, the Federal University in Kabba will change the economic fortune of Kogi West forever.
As a constituency attractor, he has redefined representation. On roads, he attracted N2 billion for emergency repairs of the abandoned Kabba-Egbe-Ilorin road and secured additional N6 billion from the Federal Ministry of Works to return contractor to site after 11 years of abandonment. He personally funded the reconstruction of the collapsed Pakuta Bridge linking Aiyegunle-Gbede, Kiri Kingdom, Kupa North/South and parts of Niger State with over N23 million, using local labour.
On security, when Kogi-Kwara border became a kidnap corridor, he did not just move a motion. He committed over N750 million of personal funds to build, furnish and equip a 94-bed Military Forward Operating Base in Egbe, donated two Hilux patrol vans, facilitated troop deployment to Jege, Odo-Ere, Isanlu and Olle-Bunu. The Chief of Army Staff commissioned it on October 12, 2024. For this singular act, Nigeria honoured him as the Most Security-Conscious Senator. He has built a second FOB to secure Bunu communities.
On water and power, his scorecard is unprecedented. Records show 85 solar-powered boreholes, one per ward, plus facilitation of 75 new ones and rehabilitation of over 60 moribund water schemes worth N1.24 billion. At his Lokoja Town Hall in August 2026, he announced 22 solar-powered motorized boreholes delivered and 7 industrial boreholes in Lokoja, including at Workers Village, Karaworo Centre, Effo-Amuro, Up Anguwan Pawa. On power, over 32 transformers to communities like Sarki Noma, Mount Patti, Obajana, Offege-Baptist, and over 500 solar-powered street lights across 62 communities. And the free Karimi Cares Coastal Buses plying Lokoja metropolis morning and evening.
On education, he has made history. Full remodeling of Government Science Secondary School, Koton-Karfe through NSSEC at over N1.2 billion, adjudged the biggest educational infrastructure ever attracted by a sitting legislator in Kogi West. A 288-seat solar-powered CBT centre at Titcombe College Egbe worth over N350 million that hosted over 1,200 JAMB candidates in 2026. Three more 275-capacity CBT centres captured in 2026 budget for Muslim Community Secondary School Lokongoma, Government Science School Iyara and Okutadudu Comprehensive College Odo-Ere, with a fourth at ECWA Secondary School Mopa personally funded by him. All with laptops, internet, CCTV, solar and generators.
His bursary remains the largest in Kogi history and it is personally funded, not constituency project. 1,000 students at N100,000 each in 2024. 3,000 students across Kogi at N300 million in 2025 disbursed in January 2026. Another N300 million for 3,000 students announced for 2026 – 1,390 from Kogi West, 1,000 from Kogi East, 610 from Kogi Central. Plus N10 million each to Anglican Nursery School, Iyara Day, Ayetoro Day, Ekinrin-Adde Day and N20 million released of N50 million pledged for Kabba Day.
On empowerment, 50 women cooperatives received N2 million each totaling N100 million as revolving capital after rigorous business training for over 550 women, plus farm inputs, fertilizers, sprayers to farmers.
This is why his win in 2027 will be sacrosanct and convincing.
Kogi West is an area and district that appreciates accomplishments and quality representation. Head or tail, Senator Karimi is the odd in the political equation for 2027 Senate election. The constituents themselves say it.
In the words of a community leader in Bunu District which recently passed a vote of confidence and endorsed Tinubu and Karimi for second term: “We have never seen this. Water is flowing, lights are on, children are writing JAMB in Egbe without traveling to Ilorin, our bridge is back, soldiers are in our forest. Who will we leave?”
A youth leader in Lokoja said: “Karimi Cares buses carry us free every day. He didn’t wait for FAAC. He used his own money for boreholes and bursary. That is the kind of Senator we need ranking.”
A women cooperative leader in Yagba West said: “He gave us N2 million each not as gift but as business capital and trained us. Our businesses are growing.”
The logic is simple. A first-term Senator lobbies. A second-term ranking Senator chairs principal offices, attracts a Federal University, a Medical University in Egbe, more CBT centres. Kogi West understands this political arithmetic. Since 1999 no Senator has reached ranking status with tangible proof. Karimi will, and Kogi West will benefit more.
As things currently stand, if the grassroots remains the determinant, Senator Sunday Steve Karimi is already home and dry. It will not be a narrow win. It will be a convincing win, from Kogi LGA to Kabba, Ijumu, Mopamuro, Yagba East and Yagba West, because performance has finally ended propaganda.