Former Kogi governor Ibrahim Idris dies at 77

Ibrahim Idris, a former governor of Kogi State, has died. He was 77.

Mr Idris died on Sunday in the United Kingdom, according to his family.

His nephew, Shehu Ahmed, confirmed the death to AIT Live on Sunday afternoon, following earlier unconfirmed reports on social media.

Further details surrounding his death were not immediately available.

Popularly known as “Ibro,” Mr Idris remains the longest-serving governor in Kogi State’s history, having governed the North-central state for nearly nine years.

He first became governor on 29 May 2003 after defeating the incumbent, Abubakar Audu, in that year’s governorship election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Mr Idris was re-elected in 2007, but the election was later annulled after the courts ruled that the Independent National Electoral Commission had wrongly excluded Mr Audu, then the candidate of the All Nigeria Peoples Party, from the election.

The Court of Appeal subsequently ordered a fresh election.

Clarence Olafemi, then Speaker of the Kogi State House of Assembly, served briefly as acting governor while the rerun was conducted.

Mr Idris won the 29 March 2008 rerun and returned to office. The election dispute contributed to Kogi becoming one of Nigeria’s states with an off-cycle governorship election.

Another legal dispute later arose over when his tenure should constitutionally end.

Mr Idris and several other governors whose 2007 elections had been annulled argued that their four-year tenures restarted after they won rerun elections and took fresh oaths of office.

The Supreme Court rejected that argument in January 2012, bringing an end to his extended tenure.

The judgement became an important precedent on the constitutional tenure of governors following annulled elections and reruns.

Idris Wada, who had won the December 2011 Kogi governorship election on the PDP platform, subsequently assumed office. Mr Wada is Mr Idris’s brother-in-law.

Years in office

During his years as governor, Mr Idris’s administration undertook several infrastructure projects across the state.

Projects associated with the administration include the Greater Lokoja Water Scheme, Lokoja International Market, Confluence Stadium and the state specialist hospital.

Retrospective accounts also credit his government with investments in education and financial support for the accreditation of academic programmes at the then Kogi State University, Anyigba.

Before entering politics, he built business interests in furniture manufacturing, hospitality, construction and general commerce.

He established a furniture business in Sokoto in the 1970s and later expanded into hospitality and other ventures.

Mr Idris remained active in the PDP and Kogi politics after leaving office.

His death comes more than two years after the death of his son, Mohammed Idris, a former member of the House of Representatives who represented Ankpa/Olamaboro/Omala Federal Constituency between 2011 and 2015. Mohammed died in Abuja in April 2024 at the age of 55.

As of the time of filing this report, the family had not announced burial arrangements or disclosed the cause of death.