Early 2027 buildup: Governance must not be relegated to the rear

Nigerian politicians, especially its Fourth Republic breed, are decidedly weird in their ways. In more ways than one, they have nothing but disregard for the rules of the game. They have no interest in delivering democratic dividends, for which they were elected into public offices.

As a result, citizens are pained to see them already stoking the 2027 electoral firmament, less than two years into the life of the present democratic dispensation.

There is nothing on the ground in terms of the welfare of the people or fulfilling the electoral promises of political parties during the last election. PREMIUM TIMES believes that jumping the gun to the start of the next elections now, to say the least, is a provocative engagement.

Ineluctably, politicians have relegated governance, at both the federal and state levels, to the background. This should not be tolerated by Nigerians.

Media brickbats among the actors, which include governors and senators, have become frequent, as they abandon their statutory duties to junket around the country, immersing themselves in consultative meetings and possible realignments towards the next general elections.

Political rallies are being held and election billboards are already appearing in some cities. These bizarre manifestations are not needed at this time, amid socio-economic and security challenges plaguing Nigerians.

Observers feel that this aberrant political behaviour was triggered by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), George Akume’s ill-advised declaration in December 2024 that, “there was no vacancy in Aso Rock until 2031,” in a television interview. President Bola Tinubu was only 19 months in office then.

Others within the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and apparatchiks of the opposition political parties did not waste time in taking a cue from that blunder.

Perhaps, the weightiest of the political manoeuvres was that of a former governor of Kaduna State, Nasiru El-Rufai’s visit to erstwhile President Muhammadu Buhari, and his later claim that he had received the ex-leader’s endorsement to defect from the APC to the Social Democratic Party (SDP).

With him on that visit were Atiku Abubakar, a former vice-president and PDP’s presidential flag bearer in 2023, Aminu Tambuwal, Isa Pantami, Jibrilla Bidow and Achike Udenwa.

According to Mr El-Rufai, “The APC has abandoned the ideals that led to its formation. It has abandoned the people. Everyone is now pursuing personal interests and wealth.” This salvo, as expected, inspired countervailing visits to Mr Buhari, thus making his Kaduna residence a Mecca of sorts.

First, it was the APC national chairman, Abdullahi Ganduje with his team, followed by the party’s governors’ forum, led by Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State.

Despite his failings while in office, Mr Buhari still commands a cult-like following in the North, which no politician worth his salt can ignore. How effective the frenetic visits of APC and its governors to the former president have been will be clear in the months ahead. There is apparently an inchoate political coalition being spearheaded by Messrs Atiku and El-Rufai, which more Buhari allies would allegedly join in the days to come.

Nevertheless, the Presidency, through presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga, has been responding to all missiles thrown at Mr Tinubu with equal – or more – venom.

At the recent official reception of Governor Sheriff Oborevwori of Delta State, nine APC governors abandoned their states and turned up in Asaba on the eve of his defection to the ruling party at the federal level. The host governor boasted about the significance of their presence at his defection.

Equally, the opposition PDP governors have not been left behind in this unrestrained gallivanting for purposes of the 2027 elections. They met in Ibadan recently, where they spoke against any permutation that would make PDP an integral part of any political coalition for the next election. Its chairman, Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State, was optimistic that the party would seize the reins of leadership in 2027.

Besides governance being undermined by these peripatetic political effusions, their implications in fiscal terms are humongous. It is a notorious fact that most governors in Nigeria travel with chartered flights, while others have state-owned jets, which are maintained at great cost to the public treasury.

A critical point in all of this is that the masses do not really matter. What counts is the selfish interests of the political elite. This is highly unfortunate! There is hunger in the land, inflation, insecurity (of a vicious variety that savaged Plateau and Benue states recently), the epidemic of kidnapping, bad road networks, erosion, dilapidated schools and healthcare facilities, and youth unemployment, which are all life-threatening challenges.

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A landscape stalked by these surreal forces requires elected representatives at all levels to be steady at their duty-posts, formulating and implementing policies, and marshalling hands-on strategies to change the ugly national narrative, in line with the social contracts with electorates.

Indeed, it is only in a voodoo political environment, in a pro-Nyesom Wike rally in Bayelsa State, last month, under the auspices of New Associates, that the convener will call on Governor Douye Diri of the PDP, to come out and declare his support for President Tinubu’s run for the 2027 presidential contest. George Turner, the PDP zonal publicity secretary for the South-South region, was the mastermind of this delinquent political stroke.

However, Nigerians can help themselves by being savvy enough to know that public service begets stewardship. Now is the time to begin to calibrate the performances of those they elected into public office about two years ago, and put pressure on them to deliver their electoral promises, while holding them to account for their management of public resources.

The accountability obligation in the US democratic practice was what gave birth to Town Hall meetings, where electorates take on governors and representatives at the Congress for better service delivery. This should no longer remain a strange – or receding – practice in our democracy also.

Rather than keep watching as they indulge in their narcissism of power struggles for self-preservation, it is time to turn on the heat of demanding accountability from our political class. Now!