An All Progressives Congress (APC) aspirant in the May 18, 2026 Kogi West senatorial primary, Bamidele Samuel Aro, has challenged the transfer of a suit over the party’s 2027 senatorial nomination from Lokoja to Abuja.
Aro is contesting the validity of Senator Sunday Karimi’s emergence as the APC candidate and the subsequent submission of his name to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The suit, filed before the Federal High Court in Lokoja, seeks to determine whether the APC complied with its constitution, electoral guidelines and relevant provisions of the Electoral Act during the nomination process.
Aro is asking the court to declare the APC primary purportedly won by Karimi invalid. He is also challenging the party’s submission of Karimi’s name to INEC on July 11, 2026, arguing that the submission should be declared null and void.
The aspirant further wants the court to determine that, having not withdrawn his own candidacy, the party remains bound to recognise him as its lawful candidate. Among other reliefs, Aro is seeking an order directing INEC to accept and recognise his name as the APC candidate for Kogi West Senatorial District in the 2027 general election.
The matter came up for mention before Justice Isah Dashen of the Federal High Court, Lokoja. Counsel to Karimi, Ayo Jonathan, informed the court that he had received a letter indicating that the case had been transferred to the Federal Capital Territory on security grounds.
However, Aro’s lawyer, Johnson Usman, opposed the decision. Usman argued that the security concerns cited as the basis for relocating the case were unfounded and insufficient to justify moving the proceedings from Kogi State.
He pointed to the regular movement of people through the state, noting that hundreds of vehicles travel across Kogi daily. According to the counsel, the prevailing security situation should therefore not automatically constitute grounds for transferring the matter.
Justice Dashen, however, explained that he lacked the authority to stop the transfer. The judge said the relocation had been ordered by the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court and was consequently beyond his powers to reverse.
The development leaves the dispute over the Kogi West APC primary set to continue under the jurisdiction to which the case has been transferred. The substantive issues before the court include the validity of the APC primary, the party’s nomination process and whether Karimi’s name was lawfully submitted to INEC for the 2027 election.
