The internal crisis within the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kogi State has deepened as a senatorial aspirant, Chief Momoh Yusuf Obaro, has instituted a legal challenge against the outcome of the party’s Kogi Central Senatorial District primary election that produced former Governor Yahaya Bello as its candidate for the 2027 election.

The suit, filed before the Federal High Court in Abuja, challenges Bello’s emergence as the APC candidate and seeks judicial intervention over the conduct and outcome of the May 18, 2026, primary election.

The matter came up at the Federal High Court Headquarters, Court No. 6, Abuja, where Justice Inyang Edem Ekwo fixed November 19, 2026, for judgment in the suit challenging Bello’s senatorial candidacy.

The development is the latest escalation in the dispute over the Kogi Central APC primary after Obaro rejected the results announced by the party and petitioned the APC leadership, alleging irregularities, violence, intimidation of his agents, lack of transparency and the participation of an allegedly uncleared candidate.

Bello was declared winner of the primary after the APC’s returning officer, Sadiq Mohammed, announced that the former governor polled 72,399 votes, against 319 votes scored by Ibrahim Yakubu Adoke and 188 votes recorded for Obaro.

However, Obaro disputed the figures, insisting that the results documented by his agents across the five local government areas that make up Kogi Central showed a different outcome.

According to figures contained in his earlier petition to the APC, Obaro claimed that he secured 44,270 votes, while Bello allegedly received 20,092 votes and Adoke 1,985 votes.

The figures presented by Obaro showed that he claimed to have won across the five local government areas, including 13,168 votes in Adavi, 20,602 in Okene, 3,503 in Ogori/Magongo, 4,696 in Okehi and 5,169 in Ajaokuta.

Bello’s declared figures, however, showed that he won all five local government areas, scoring 18,341 votes in Adavi, 10,298 in Ajaokuta, 5,146 in Ogori/Magongo, 8,943 in Okehi and 29,621 in Okene.

Obaro subsequently petitioned the APC’s primary appeal committee, asking the party to nullify the declared results and either recognise him as the winner based on what he described as authentic results or conduct a fresh primary under what he called a transparent and credible process.

In his petition, Obaro alleged that the election committee failed to properly engage the aspirants and stakeholders and that the process was conducted without adequate statutory oversight.

He also alleged that officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Nigeria Police Force were absent at the various voting locations, while armed local vigilantes were deployed around the process.

Obaro further alleged that his agents and supporters were harassed, intimidated and physically assaulted during the exercise, adding that some of the incidents were reported to the police.

He claimed that his campaign had 114 ward coordinators/polling agents, five local government collation agents and a senatorial collation agent, who allegedly documented the voting process and retained photographic and video evidence of results from various polling units.

In his earlier petition, Obaro also alleged that Bello had not been cleared by the APC screening committee to participate in the primary, arguing that his participation rendered the process defective.

The controversy surrounding Bello’s screening had also been reported before the primary, with conflicting claims over his status. Subsequent reports stated that the APC eventually cleared Bello to contest.

The legal challenge comes against the backdrop of Bello’s ongoing criminal proceedings involving allegations brought by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over alleged diversion of public funds, fraud and money laundering during his tenure as Kogi State governor.

Bello, who served as governor of Kogi State from 2016 to January 2024, has consistently denied wrongdoing and through his lawyers, described the allegations against him as politically motivated.

One of the cases before the Federal High Court in Abuja involves a 19-count charge filed by the EFCC, in which the commission alleges that about ₦80.2 billion was laundered or diverted from Kogi State funds. The allegations include the use of funds to acquire properties in Nigeria and Dubai.

In a separate case, the EFCC accused Bello, alongside Umar Oricha and Abdulsalami Hudu, of alleged fraud, criminal breach of trust and related offences involving approximately ₦110.4 billion.

The FCT High Court in Abuja in June 2026 dismissed an application by Bello seeking to quash the charges in the ₦110.4 billion case, allowing the proceedings to continue.

Despite the pending cases, Bello contested the APC Kogi Central senatorial primary and emerged as the party’s candidate according to the results announced by the party.