By Amuda Dan Sulaiman Fab
An alleged case of forgery aimed at overturning the outcome of the concluded All Progressives Congress (APC) Kogi West Senatorial primary election has been uncovered, with party stakeholders accusing members of the Lawal Sama’ila Abdullahi Electoral Primary Committee of forging the signature of the returning officer and replacing the original certified results with what they described as a fake document.
The APC conducted its senatorial primary election nationwide on May 18, 2026, to select candidates for the 2027 general elections. In Kogi West Senatorial District, Senator Sunday Karimi was publicly declared winner of the exercise after polling 51,665 votes.
The official result was announced by the APC Kogi West Senatorial District Returning Officer, Haruna Isah, who stated that Karimi defeated four other aspirants in the contest conducted across the 85 wards in the senatorial district.
According to the returning officer, the certified result was subsequently submitted to the APC Kogi State Senatorial Primary Election Committee headed by Lawal Sama’ila Abdullahi.
However, stakeholders within the APC in Kogi West alleged that another result sheet bearing different figures later surfaced, allegedly carrying a forged signature of the returning officer.
The stakeholders claimed the alleged attempt to substitute the authentic result was uncovered before the document could be processed further by the national headquarters of the party.
The original results announced after the primary election, as contained in the certified result sheet, were listed as follows:
Senator Sunday Karimi Steve – 51,665 votes
Samuel Aro – 620 votes
Smart Adeyemi – 571 votes
Alhaji Abubakar Zakari Ola – 414 votes
Elizabeth Adedoyin – 18 votes
Party stakeholders described the alleged plot as a direct attack on the integrity of the APC and on the mandate freely given by party members during the direct primary election.
“The margin was clear and decisive. Any attempt to replace that with a forged document is an assault on party members who came out to vote,” one stakeholder said.
The stakeholders further called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, and the national leadership of the APC to urgently intervene in the matter and ensure that those allegedly involved in the forgery and result tampering are investigated and prosecuted.
They maintained that allowing such actions to go unpunished could undermine confidence in the party’s internal democratic process and set a dangerous precedent for future elections.
