2027 Election: Nigerians Deserve Campaigns Built Around Ideas, Not Identity

As rallies, endorsements, defections, campaign slogans and political attacks begin to dominate the public space, Nigerians should demand a different kind of election—one centred on ideas, policies, programmes and clear commitments rather than spectacle.

The 2027 campaign should provide candidates with an opportunity to explain, in practical terms, how they intend to address the country's most pressing challenges. Nigeria can no longer afford an electoral process driven largely by ethnicity, religion, money, propaganda, personality politics and emotional appeals.

Rather than spending most of their time attacking opponents, candidates should devote greater attention to explaining their own qualifications, leadership vision and plans for governing the country.

The issues confronting Nigerians are too serious to be reduced to campaign slogans. Millions of households continue to struggle with the high cost of living, while insecurity threatens lives, businesses and investments. Unemployment remains a major concern, and weaknesses in electricity supply, infrastructure, healthcare, education and public institutions continue to hinder national development.

The campaign period should therefore be used to facilitate a serious national conversation on how these problems can be addressed.

Candidates should tell voters how they intend to bring down inflation, create productive employment, strengthen the naira, attract domestic and foreign investment, improve the business environment and expand reliable electricity supply.

They must also present credible strategies for tackling insecurity and explain how their proposed security architecture would improve the protection of lives and property.

Nigerians deserve more than promises. Presidential candidates should provide details on how their policies would be implemented, when Nigerians should expect results, how much the programmes would cost and what measurable targets would be used to assess their performance.

Political parties also have a responsibility to give their manifestoes greater importance. Party manifestoes should not be treated merely as campaign publications designed to generate publicity. They should serve as clear commitments between political parties and the electorate.

At the end of a four-year administration, citizens should be able to return to the manifesto and determine which promises were fulfilled, which were abandoned and the reasons for any failures.

Civil society organisations, professional associations, academics, the business community and the media also have important roles to play. They should scrutinise campaign promises, examine the financial and technical feasibility of proposed policies and challenge candidates over unrealistic or contradictory commitments.

Voters, for their part, must resist the temptation to support candidates simply because they belong to the same ethnic group, religion, region or political party.

Nigeria needs an electoral culture in which competence, character, experience, integrity and sound policy proposals carry greater weight than identity politics.

The 2027 presidential election should consequently be more than a struggle for control of Aso Rock. It should be an opportunity for Nigerians to examine competing visions for the country's economic, security and institutional future.

Political actors should lower the temperature of their rhetoric, reject hate speech, misinformation, personal attacks and character assassination, and focus instead on presenting convincing alternatives.

Ultimately, the 2027 election should be a referendum on ideas, competence and performance—not ethnicity, propaganda or political bellicosity.