Kogi, at the confluence of the Niger and Benue rivers, is split between three main groups: the Igala in the east, the Ebira in the centre and the Okun Yoruba in the west. The Igala, the largest group, produced every elected governor until 2015. Since a court-ordered rerun in 2008, Kogi has voted off-cycle, in November rather than alongside the general elections, and its polls have a long record of violence and disputed results.
1999 and 2003: Audu loses re-election
Abubakar Audu, who had governed the state briefly in the Third Republic, won the January 1999 election for the All People’s Party with 608,329 votes. In April 2003 he lost to the PDP’s Ibrahim Idris, a businessman, who polled 481,264 votes to Audu’s 293,089.
2007 and 2008: annulment and rerun
Idris was re-elected in April 2007 with 724,839 votes against 304,335 for Mohammed Abdulsalami Ohiare of the Action Congress. Audu, whom INEC had excluded from the ballot, challenged the result. The tribunal annulled the election, and on 6 February 2008 the Court of Appeal upheld the annulment and ordered a fresh vote. The Speaker of the state assembly, Clarence Olafemi, acted as governor until Idris won the rerun at the end of March 2008. Because his new term ran from 2008, Kogi has since voted out of step with the rest of the country.
2011: Wada
Idris’s successor, Idris Wada, a retired pilot, won the PDP ticket and the election of 3 December 2011 with 300,372 votes against 159,913 for Audu, now in the Action Congress of Nigeria.
2015: the candidate who died
On 21 November 2015 Audu, running for the APC, led Wada by 240,867 votes to 199,514. INEC declared the election inconclusive because voting had been cancelled in 91 polling units with 49,953 registered voters, more than the margin. The next day, 22 November, Audu collapsed and died before a supplementary vote could be held.
INEC asked the APC to name a substitute. The party chose Yahaya Bello, a young accountant who had come second to Audu in the primary, rather than Audu’s running mate, James Abiodun Faleke, who claimed he should be declared governor. After the supplementary election on 5 December 2015, Bello was declared the winner, with the APC’s total put at 247,752 votes against 204,877 for Wada. The courts upheld the substitution, and Bello became the first Ebira governor of the state.
2019: Bello’s second term
Bello was re-elected on 16 November 2019 with 406,222 votes (66.5%) against 189,704 for the PDP’s Musa Wada, the former governor’s brother. The election was marred by widespread violence, ballot-box snatching and attacks on opposition supporters, which observers condemned.
2023: Ododo
Bello’s choice to succeed him, Ahmed Usman Ododo, a former state auditor-general for local governments, won the APC ticket. On 11 November 2023 he took 446,237 votes (57%). Murtala Ajaka, an Igala former APC member running for the SDP, came second with 259,052, and the PDP’s former senator Dino Melaye third with 46,362. Melaye called the result inflated, and observers reported serious irregularities in parts of the state, but Ododo’s election was upheld all the way to the Supreme Court. He took office on 27 January 2024.
The results at a glance
| Year | Winner (party) | Votes | Runner-up (party) | Votes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Abubakar Audu (APP) | 608,329 | PDP candidate | not published |
| 2003 | Ibrahim Idris (PDP) | 481,264 | Abubakar Audu (ANPP) | 293,089 |
| 2007 | Ibrahim Idris (PDP), annulled | 724,839 | Mohammed Abdulsalami Ohiare (AC) | 304,335 |
| 2011 | Idris Wada (PDP) | 300,372 | Abubakar Audu (ACN) | 159,913 |
| 2015 | Yahaya Bello (APC) | 247,752 | Idris Wada (PDP) | 204,877 |
| 2019 | Yahaya Bello (APC) | 406,222 | Musa Wada (PDP) | 189,704 |
| 2023 | Usman Ododo (APC) | 446,237 | Murtala Ajaka (SDP) | 259,052 |
The 2008 rerun figures were not published in a form we can verify. If you have the official INEC return, send a correction from this page.
What comes next
Kogi does not vote in the February 2027 general elections. Ododo’s first term runs to January 2028, and the next governorship election is due in late 2027, alongside Bayelsa and Imo.
