Yagba 2027: Experience, Influence and the Abejide Advantage
By J.O. Abel-Ontop
Politics is often reduced to elections, campaigns and the struggle for political office. But in communities where representation is judged by what people can see, touch and remember, the more important question is what a leader has done with the opportunity entrusted to him.
That is the central argument behind the growing conversation around Rt. Hon. Leke Joseph Abejide and his aspiration to return to the House of Representatives for a third term to represent Yagba Federal Constituency.
For Yagba East, Yagba West and Mopamuro, the 2027 question is therefore bigger than the ambition of one politician. It is about continuity, experience, influence and whether the constituency should consolidate a model of representation that has increasingly connected legislative responsibility with grassroots intervention.
A Record That Has Become the Campaign
Abejide’s strongest political argument remains his record.
His years in the House have been accompanied by interventions in education, infrastructure, empowerment, healthcare, social welfare and security. His foundation has also sustained humanitarian programmes supporting students, widows, youths and other vulnerable groups.
One of the clearest examples is his educational intervention. The Leke Abejide Foundation has continued to support WAEC registration for students, including an intervention of more than ₦150 million for eligible students in private secondary schools across Yagba, Kabba/Bunu and Ijumu Federal Constituency for the 2026 examination cycle.
The significance goes beyond the amount spent. It is the principle behind the intervention: that a family’s financial circumstances should not determine whether a young person gets the opportunity to sit for a major examination.
Abejide has also spoken publicly about his investment in education, healthcare, roads, solar lighting and rural development. In a previous interview, he cited the rehabilitation of roads, provision of furniture to schools, support for hospitals and the installation of thousands of solar lights across communities.
These interventions provide a basis for the argument that the Abejide project is not simply a campaign slogan. It has developed around an existing record of constituency engagement.
From Grassroots Influence to National Relevance
There is another dimension to the Abejide story that deserves attention.
Abejide did not enter national politics with the advantage of belonging to one of Nigeria’s dominant political parties. He contested the 2019 House of Representatives election on the platform of the African Democratic Congress and won in a constituency where the larger political parties had traditionally enjoyed significant influence. The Cable previously described his emergence as a significant political reorientation in Yagba politics.
His national relevance grew quickly. He was appointed Vice Chairman of the House Committee on Customs and Excise after his election in 2019, and he currently chairs the House Committee on Customs and Excise, according to recent reporting.
That trajectory matters to Yagba.
A legislator who has developed relationships, institutional knowledge and influence within the National Assembly is in a stronger position to advocate for constituency priorities than a newcomer who must begin the process of building those relationships from scratch.
For Yagba, this is one of the strongest arguments for continuity.
The Technocrat Advantage
Abejide’s background as a businessman and technocrat has also shaped his political identity.
The combination of business experience and legislative exposure has enabled him to approach public service with an understanding of enterprise, investment, negotiation and strategic relationships.
That national positioning has increasingly allowed him to operate beyond the immediate boundaries of Yagba politics. His role in the National Assembly places him within conversations that affect customs, trade, national revenue and economic policy, while his political relationships have opened opportunities for engagement with influential actors across Kogi State and Nigeria.
The benefit to Yagba is straightforward: influence becomes useful when it is converted into opportunities for the people.
Representation Beyond Party Lines
Another defining feature of the Abejide project has been his willingness to work across political boundaries.
Although elected on the ADC platform, Abejide has maintained engagements with political actors outside his party and has repeatedly presented his support for initiatives that he believes serve Kogi State and Nigeria.
His interventions in security provide an example.
Beyond conventional legislative advocacy, he has supported security agencies and contributed to accommodation projects for personnel of the Nigerian Army at Chari Maigumeri Barracks in Lokoja. He has also been involved in security-related initiatives within his constituency.
The approach suggests a political philosophy in which the welfare of constituents takes precedence over partisan boundaries.
A Voice for Yagba on Infrastructure
The struggle for better roads remains one of the most important development concerns in Yagba.
Abejide’s motion on the urgent reconstruction of the Kabba-Egbe Road demonstrated the role that legislative representation can play in pushing local infrastructure concerns into national conversation.
The Federal Ministry of Works subsequently indicated that the road had been rescoped into phases, including repairs to critically failed sections.
The road issue is particularly significant because Kabba-Egbe is not merely a transportation route. It affects farmers, traders, businesses, commuters and communities whose economic activities depend on reliable connectivity.
A representative who consistently places such matters before national institutions is using the legislature as an instrument of constituency advocacy.
Empowerment as Economic Representation
Political representation cannot be restricted to physical projects.
For a constituency where many young people, women, traders and small businesses require access to capital, empowerment is equally important.
The Leke Abejide Foundation has supported non-interest loan schemes and other empowerment programmes. The foundation’s official platform recently highlighted a ₦100 million interest-free loan intervention for women cooperatives in Lokoja and Koto Karfe.
Earlier reports have also documented empowerment programmes involving widows, women and other vulnerable groups, alongside development support and security interventions attributed to Abejide’s wider constituency efforts.
For Yagba, the real value of such programmes is not simply the money involved. It is the opportunity for beneficiaries to build businesses, support families and become economically independent.
Why the Third Term Conversation Matters
The case for a third term should not be based simply on the argument that an incumbent deserves another opportunity.
The more compelling argument is continuity.
A returning legislator comes with experience, established networks, legislative familiarity and knowledge of how government processes work. He also returns with a better understanding of what has been achieved, what remains unfinished and where new opportunities can be pursued.
For Abejide, another term could therefore be presented as an opportunity to consolidate existing projects, expand educational and empowerment programmes, strengthen infrastructure advocacy and pursue greater federal presence in Yagba.
Recent public advocacy for his return has similarly argued that continuity could provide stronger legislative experience, improved access to federal opportunities and greater capacity to attract development interventions to the constituency.
The Influence of a Returning Legislator
There is also a strategic political dimension.
A returning Abejide would not return to the National Assembly as the same politician who first entered the Green Chamber. He would return with years of legislative experience, a broader network and a deeper understanding of national political structures.
That accumulated influence can become an asset for Yagba.
It can help the constituency secure stronger representation in national conversations, attract government attention to local priorities, facilitate employment opportunities, influence policy discussions and negotiate more effectively for development projects.
In politics, access matters. Experience matters. Relationships matter. Institutional memory matters.
But all four become meaningful only when they are deployed for the benefit of the people.
The Abejide Project and the Future of Yagba
The 2027 election will inevitably generate competing interests, ambitions and arguments. That is normal in a democracy.
The responsibility of the electorate, however, is to examine the choices before them through the lens of performance and future capacity.
The Abejide project is ultimately a proposition about continuity: continuity of representation, continuity of advocacy, continuity of development interventions and continuity of a political voice that has become increasingly relevant at both state and national levels.
It is also an argument that Yagba’s interests are better served when its representative is not only present in Abuja but influential enough to make the constituency’s concerns heard.
Abejide’s political journey has already demonstrated that political influence can be built from outside the traditional centres of power. His challenge now is to convert that influence into an even greater development dividend for Yagba.
That is where the 2027 conversation should begin.
Not with personalities.
Not with propaganda.
But with performance, capacity, influence and the question of what kind of representation can take Yagba further.
That is the case for the Leke Abejide Project.