The last time that residents of Kogi State elected their governor on the 16th of November 2019, violence nearly marred the exercise. The election, which returned incumbent Governor Yahaya Bello for his second and final term, was disrupted in many polling units in Lokoja – the state capital – and many other parts of the state.
Thugs brazenly wielding rifles and other lethal weapons chased away voters and electoral officials before stealing ballot boxes. Some of the armed men wore police uniforms and drove around in Toyota Hilux vans, unaffected by official restriction of movement on election day.
Many voters were injured and some lost their lives during and after the elections. Among the four confirmed fatal cases was Acheju Abuh, the Women Leader of the governorship campaign organisation of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who was gruesomely killed when suspected thugs doused her house with petrol and set fire to it.
