Jottings from a road trip with Sunday Karimi

I received an invite sometime last month, from Sunday Steve Karimi, Senator representing Kogi West Senatorial Zone, to be his guest for a weekend in his hometown, Egbe, in Yagba West council area. His community was hosting the 2025 edition of the annual *Egbe Mekun Day Celebrations.* It would feature the commissioning of the modern palace built for the foremost traditional ruler of the community. For me, the invite from the Senator representing me was an honour. It was a potential opportunity to visit my part of Kogi State for the first time in two years. My last visit home was during the off-cycle governorship election of November 2023, where the votes “delivered” by former Governor Yahaya Bello’s Okene council area, torpedoed the aggregate votes polled by nine local government areas in Kogi East senatorial zone! Recall Fela Anikulapo-Kuti’s lines about “government magic,” where “they turn blue into green.” For the journalist in me, it should also be a good opportunity to personally see some of the projects Karimi had been able to execute for the betterment of we his constituents since we voted him in.

For those unfamiliar with Nigeria’s geopolitics, Kogi West begins immediately after Abaji, the last southern community in the federal capital territory, (FCT). It starts in *Chikara* and stretches 270 kilometres to *Egbe* at the border of Kogi with Kwara State. Arguably, Kogi West is larger in landmass than Ebonyi and most probably Ekiti states. It encompasses seven local government areas namely: Kotonkarfe and Lokoja, which constitute a federal constituency; Kabba-Bunu and Ijumu, which also constitute a second federal constituency, as well as Mopamuro, Yagba East and Yagba West, which make up Yagba federal constituency. They can all be encountered on a linear drive on the Abuja-Lokoja-Kabba-Isanlu-Egbe-Ilorin highway. This mammoth mass of land and people is the area of parliamentary jurisdiction for Senator Sunday Karimi.

The strident advocacy of the people of Kogi West in general, and Okunland in particular, for an economically viable state of their own on account of the sheer geographical size; sociocultural compatibility; multiplicity of natural resources; abundance of multidisciplinary human capital and ample population of the zone may be justifiable after all. As we speak, Kogi West is host to two huge, functioning cement installations, while a third is in the works. Multibillion naira agricultural investments are also sprouting in parts of the infinite hectarage. Such is the preponderance of natural endowments in the rocks, rivers and soils of Kogi West.

The 201 kilometre Abuja to Lokoja road which used to be a pleasurable two-hour ride has become a more than three-hour drudgery. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo flagged off the dualisation of the road in 2006 to underscore it’s place as gateway between the country’s North and South. Four Presidents after him, the road ranks as the longest ever under construction, with seeming constant motion by construction companies, and non-discernible movement and progress. Aside yet-to-be scraped, graded or asphalted sections of the road, the obnoxious *Lokoja International Market* which sits right on the expressway at the detour into the Kogi State capital, inflicting avoidable pain and stealing valuable man hours from commuters, worries Karimi to no end. As Governor between 2003 to 2012, Ibrahim Idris thought he had scored a bullseye with his concept of a “legacy” project. Sadly, none of his successors has been able to muster the political will to address what has become a national highway nuisance. All it requires is relocation to a less obtrusive site.

The drive, from the point where commuters turn off the Lokoja-Okene highway, through Apata to Obajana and onwards to Kabba, is much more motorable. The 64-kilometre, single-lane concrete road was built by the multibillionaire proprietor of the Obajana-Dangote Cement Complex, Aliko Dangote. Indiscriminate parking by freight trucks and round-the -clock operations in the complex, have, however, completely narrowed the road, posing palpable risks, making a comprehensive redesign of the road most compelling. It simply has to be dualised and provided flyovers to ease traffic between the South West and the North, and vice-versa. Obajana the host community of what is generally described as the “largest cement factory in Africa,” equally needs urgent makeover. Poverty and squalor are undisguisedly plastered on the visage of the shanty town and its slum environs.

When the Kabba-Isanlu-Egbe road was at its passable best several years ago, the 97 kilometre stretch was a tasty one-hour drive. Sadly, ageing through times and relentless pressure on the asphalt road has made it one of the very worst in Nigeria. Karimi is most concerned about the unspeakably decrepit condition of the road and is adopting a multipronged approach to ensure the rehabilitation of the road in the short term, and its reconceptualisation in the long term. He has held bouts of meetings with the Works Minister, Dave Umahi and the owners of the Mangal Cement Complex which recently setup shop at Iluhagba-Gbedde in Ijumu council area. In the face of scant resources to be stretched across all of government’s commitments, answers have not been quick in coming. But Karimi is not giving up.

On account of a few breakdowns in the convoy of cars in which we travelled, we drove a few hours in dark night, especially between Aiyetoro-Gbedde in Ijumu and Egbe in Yagba West. At Idofin-Isanlu in Yagba East, we encountered a seemingly endless herd of cattle which dominated the entire breadth of the road. You sensed a triumphalist haughtiness about the attitude of the Fulani herders whose kith have been fingered in recent horrendous attacks on the people of Kogi West, with the way they sat pretty on one of Nigeria’s most important roads, true “kings of the road,” for that moment. Sadly instructively, there were no vehicles from the Kwara State side of the road. This further attested to the mortal scare which has been driven deep into constituents of contiguous communities in Kwara and Kogi. Indeed, socioeconomic activities have been summarily paralysed in those parts.

Despite the evening torrents and the drenched earth, Senator Karimi’s admirers waited in large numbers to receive him into his home local government, at the Odo-Eri approach. They rode excitedly with him through gaping gullies, concrete bumps and dampening drizzles all the way to his country home in Egbe. They joined a detachment of supporters which had gone ahead. Despite soaking in the affection of his admirers, Karimi was cognisant of his famished guests who undertook the gruelling nine hour trip with him, as well as the needs of his followers. He headed to his kitchen to rally the “troops” to the “rhythm of the mortar,” the culinary staple in Okunland. He graciously ceded his seat at the dining place to me, prioritising the comfort of his guests. I took due note of such uncommon humility.

Sunday Karimi is your archetypal homeboy. He’s out of bed early next morning dressed in shorts and sneakers, visiting royals, family and friends, while also keeping a keen eye on preparations for the *Egbe Mekun Day.* Security concerns had fuelled suggestions for the postponement of the event. Karimi thought that was the best way to demonstrate to faceless belligerents that the people had succumbed to the terrorist machinations of marauders. The programme had to be prosecuted. I insisted on an inspection visit to the Computer-Based Test, (CBT) Centre which he substantially funded, established in his alma mater, the famous Titcombe College, Egbe. I equally wanted to see the *Forward Operating Base,* (FOB), which he built at the southern end of Egbe, to help stem insecurity in the area, operated by the Nigerian Army.

His friends believe he’s too reticent, too self-effacing about his multifarious endeavours in sectors such as education, water supply, empowerment, healthcare, infrastructure, security, philanthropy among others, in a polity where noise makers and propagandists steal the flutes of others. They therefore commissioned a television documentary titled: *Senator Sunday Steve Karimi: A Legacy of Service and Impact in Kogi West,* aggregating his very impressive achievements. With him, we sat through a preview of the well-produced documentary in his living room, offering constructive critiques in a few places. We unanimously approved it for airing on select national television stations in the coming weeks. That he has the patience and presence of mind to sit through such an intellectual and professional exercise, struck me positively.

In the jealous and intricate politics between Egbe which is politically delineated as “town council” because of its relative urbanity, and the rest of Yagba West known as “area council,” Karimi is playing deft and pragmatic politics. On the eve of the *Egbe Mekun* celebrations, he drove at night with his entourage to Odo-Ere, headquarters of the local government area, to interact with his loyalists at a meeting facilitated by Oluseyi Omotoso, an Abuja-based entrepreneur and one of his diehards. We retired to *The Royal Choice Hotel* a most visionary investment in the hospitality industry in our parts and were generously hosted by Faramade Oniya, a Port Harcourt-based professional, younger friend and close ally of Senator Karimi. Karimi danced without a care among his friends and constituents, ever updating his preferred playlist with the adhoc deejay that night.

Senator Karimi diplomatically declined to enter into discussions about the politics of 2027 against the canvas that it is too early. His primary objective is to continue to work for his people within the context of his subsisting mandate, and for the reelection of President Bola Tinubu. Despite his unassumingness on the subject, however, it was clear to me from my readings on this recent visit that Karimi’s return to the Senate come 2027, is a *fait accompli.* It has been collectively signed, sealed and delivered by the people of Kogi West. Like Femi Saidu, a community leader said in Yagba at the Odo-Ere meeting, “that man has not been born of a woman, who would dare say that Yagba federal constituency will not serve out a minimum two terms in the Senate. Not when Ijumu local government area alone, in Kabba-Bunu/Ijumu federal constituency, solely retained the office for 16 good years, destroying what was supposed to be a two-term per federal constituency gentleman’s rotational arrangement between the three federal constituencies in Kogi West.”

It was as eye-opening as it was an eventful trip for me in my multiplicity of roles as a writer and community development enthusiast. The “starter’s gun” for 2027 has been fired even at the grassroots, beyond the noise and shufflings in high places. Interesting times lie ahead.

Olusunle, PhD, Fellow of the Association of Nigerian Authors, (FANA), is an Adjunct Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Abuja*