By Abdullahi Mohammed
The All Progressives Congress finds itself at a defining crossroads that will test the integrity of its internal processes and its commitment to democratic accountability. As the 2026 senatorial primaries draw near, former Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello announced in December 2025 his intention to contest for a senatorial seat, and has now reportedly obtained the APC’s Senatorial Nomination Form for the Kogi Central district. Yet the very nomination form he completed, asks in Article 7 whether any aspirant has a pending criminal trial. The answer, in Bello’s case, is unambiguously YES! By allowing his candidacy to proceed, the APC would be endorsing a self-contradiction at the very heart of its own screening process, and sending a catastrophic signal to Nigerians about whose interests the party truly serves.
The facts of Bello’s legal entanglements are not in dispute, and they are gravely serious. Bello is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission alongside two co-defendants on a 16-count charge bordering on criminal breach of trust and money laundering to the tune of ₦110.4 billion. As if that were not enough, he also faces a separate 19-count charge at the Federal High Court, bordering on alleged money laundering to the tune of over ₦80 billion. These are not minor regulatory infractions or political vendettas dressed up as litigation. They are active, multi-count criminal prosecutions in two separate courts simultaneously, with prosecution witnesses still being called and cross-examined as recently as April 2026. The Federal High Court adjourned the money laundering trial to May 6 and 7, 2026, for the continuation of cross-examination of the 12th prosecution witness.
The trials are live, ongoing, and far from resolution. This is precisely the scenario Article 7 of the APC nomination form was designed to flag.
The moral case for disqualification is straightforward and compelling. A political party that claims to stand for progressive governance and accountability cannot, in good conscience, present to Nigerians a senatorial candidate who is simultaneously standing trial in two courts for allegedly laundering over ₦190 billion in public funds. The Senate is Nigeria’s highest legislative chamber; a body that enacts laws, appropriates public funds, and is expected to serve as a check on executive recklessness. Entrusting a senatorial seat to someone whose very fitness to handle public funds is under judicial scrutiny is a moral contradiction of the highest order. Beyond the individual candidate, the APC’s credibility as a reform-minded party is on the line.
Nigerians, particularly the long-suffering people of Kogi State who bore the brunt of the alleged governance failures, deserve representatives whose moral authority to legislate is beyond question.
The legal implications of proceeding with Bello’s candidacy are equally treacherous territory for the APC. The party’s own nomination form, in Article 7, explicitly asks aspirants to declare pending criminal trials. If Bello answered truthfully, then the party possesses the information it needs to act and a failure to act becomes a deliberate choice to ignore its own rules. If he answered otherwise, that itself constitutes a ground for immediate disqualification by reason of misrepresentation. Either way, the APC has no legally defensible basis to advance his candidacy without undermining the integrity of its screening process.
Furthermore, should Bello win the party ticket and go on to contest the general election, opposing parties and civil society organizations would have grounds to challenge his candidacy in court, exposing the APC to costly and embarrassing legal battles that could ultimately void an election result. The party would be gambling its senatorial seat on a legal time bomb.
The political consequences for the APC could be devastating and long-lasting. The EFCC has publicly confirmed that Bello’s trial is still ongoing and that it is the responsibility of the court to determine his guilt or innocence. This means the prosecution could reach a verdict, potentially a conviction at any point during a senatorial campaign or even after Bello has been sworn in should he ‘miraculously’ win in the election. A conviction of a sitting senator, or even the escalating spectacle of a senator-elect shuttling between the chambers of the National Assembly and the courtrooms of Abuja, would be a public relations catastrophe of historic proportions for the APC.
The optics of the party defending a candidate whose alleged offenses involve the looting of state funds meant for the poorest Nigerians would hand the opposition a devastating weapon heading into 2027. Political parties survive and thrive on public trust, and trust, once lost in such spectacular fashion, is rarely recovered.
There is also the matter of the electorate of Kogi Central, who deserve a senator fully able to serve them without distraction, legal constraint, or moral compromise. A senator burdened with ongoing criminal prosecution faces serious practical limitations; the demands of court appearances, the psychological weight of an unresolved legal cloud, and the fundamental problem of legitimacy in the eyes of constituents. How effectively can a legislator advocate for constituency development, sponsor bills, or demand accountability from the executive when his own accountability to the law remains unsettled? The people of Kogi Central who have endured years of governance characterized, according to the EFCC, by large-scale diversion of public resources deserve a fresh start with a representative who can stand tall, speak without legal shadows, and dedicate full attention to their welfare and development.
The APC must demonstrate, through its actions in this moment, that it is more than the sum of its most powerful members. The party must uphold Article 7 of its own nomination form with the full seriousness it deserves, disqualify Yahaya Bello’s candidacy on the clear ground of his pending criminal trials, and open the field to aspirants who can present a clean slate. The EFCC itself has made clear that whatever the party does with Bello is entirely the party’s business; the ball is squarely in the APC’s court. This is not a call for the party to prejudge Bello’s guilt or innocence; that remains the exclusive province of the judiciary. It is rather a call for the party to apply its own rules fairly, protect its own electoral future, and above all, respect the intelligence and suffering of Nigerians who are watching closely.
Kogi Central and Nigeria needs senators who are above reproach, not above prosecution. May afflictions not befall Kogi State again!
Abdullahi Mohammed is a public analyst, from Okene, Kogi State.
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