With the 2027 election campaigns set to officially open on August 19, Nigerians are mounting pressure on presidential and National Assembly candidates to move beyond personality attacks, ethnic and religious mobilisation and incendiary rhetoric, demanding instead that politicians tell voters how they intend to fix the country’s worsening economic hardship, insecurity, unemployment and declining living standards.
The demands came as the political class enters the most consequential phase of the 2027 electoral cycle, with the presidential and National Assembly campaigns scheduled to begin on August 19 ahead of the January 16, 2027 polls, while campaigns for the governorship and State Houses of Assembly will commence on September 9 ahead of the February 6, 2027 elections.
With memories of violence, hate speech and bitter personality-driven campaigns from previous elections still fresh, Nigerians who spoke to BusinessDay warned that the 2027 contest must not become another battle of insults, ethnic calculations and character assassination.
Instead, they want candidates to place the economy, security, jobs, poverty, education, healthcare, infrastructure and the welfare of ordinary citizens at the heart of their campaigns.
Nigerians have also challenged political parties to go beyond slogans and make specific, measurable commitments, explaining not only what they intend to do if elected but how they plan to achieve it.
For many voters, the August 19 commencement therefore represents more than the formal opening of political campaigns; it is the beginning of a test of whether the country’s political class can shift electoral competition from personalities and identity politics to competence, ideas and solutions.
Nigerians who spoke to BusinessDay said politicians must recognise that the electorate is increasingly interested in solutions to worsening economic hardship, insecurity, unemployment, poverty and deteriorating public services.
Pharmacist Ahmed Adamu Babawuro, a lecturer at the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, said the 2027 campaign should be vigorous, robust and firmly anchored on issues affecting Nigerians.
He urged political parties and their candidates to go beyond personality attacks and present practical solutions to the country’s pressing challenges, particularly the development of the pharmaceutical industry.
Babawuro said the campaign should provide candidates with an opportunity to explain how they intend to strengthen local pharmaceutical manufacturing, improve access to quality and affordable medicines and reduce Nigeria’s dependence on imported drugs.
He said political competition should ultimately be about ideas, competence and service to Nigerians.
Similarly, Unom Samuel Shiaondo, a retired civil servant, warned political actors and their supporters against campaign violence and hate speeches, saying Nigerians should be allowed to choose their leaders without fear or intimidation.
Speaking in a telephone interview with BusinessDay, Unom said Nigeria’s democracy could no longer be described as nascent, stressing that the destruction of lives and property during political campaigns and contests should have no place in the country’s democratic development.
‘There should be no violence. We expect to see a peaceful campaign from the political actors and gladiators. They should caution their supporters against violence. Violence does no one any good,’ he said.
Unom added that political parties, security agencies and the Independent National Electoral Commission must conduct themselves in a manner that would protect the integrity of the electoral process.
‘Democracy is a game of interest, so all parties and security agencies should conduct themselves in order and allow Nigerians to make their choices. INEC must also be neutral in all these, to allow for a free, fair and credible electoral process,’ he said.
His position came against the background of concerns that the 2027 contest could reproduce some of the most damaging features of previous elections, when inflammatory speeches, personality attacks, ethnic mobilisation and religious sentiments contributed to heightened tensions, violence and deep divisions among citizens.
Jackson Lekan Ojo, a political analyst, said the central challenge before the political class was to move the 2027 campaign away from personalities and identity politics and towards practical solutions to Nigeria’s problems.
Ojo said the economic and security crises confronting Nigerians had provided sufficient lessons for politicians and voters alike, arguing that candidates should no longer assume that the electorate would be satisfied with empty political rhetoric.
‘I believe our electorate are more sophisticated now. The economic hardship and worsening security situation have taught Nigerians important lessons, and they are better positioned to demand accountability and credible solutions from those seeking their votes,’ Ojo told BusinessDay.
‘What Nigeria needs now is issue-based kind of electionary evangelism. What you are going to do for the people, look at the situation of Nigeria, look at what we are going to do to improve the situation, to make us live, to come back and live in El Dorado,’ he said.
Ojo warned that candidates who resort to personal attacks, religious sentiments and ethnic mobilisation would be doing the country a serious disservice. He also rejected the argument that the 2027 election should be determined primarily by considerations of whether it was the ‘turn’ of a particular region.
‘If you go to any hospital, do you ask if that doctor that is going to treat you is a Muslim or from the North or from the West or from the South? No. The best doctor is the one that we need now,’ he said.
Ojo said the same principle should guide the choice of political leaders, arguing that Nigerians needed candidates capable of rebuilding the economy, reducing poverty and improving living conditions.
‘Anybody that can engineer our economic system now, anybody that can treat the poverty now, that is the kind of person we want. The person should be ready to tell Nigerians what he is going to do and how he is going to do it,’ he said.
Gabriel Mvendaga, a transporter from Taraba State, said politicians should use the campaign period to explain how their policies would affect ordinary Nigerians rather than spend valuable time attacking one another. He said the cost of living, fuel prices, transportation costs and insecurity were among the issues that would matter most to ordinary voters.
Also, Major Charles, from Edo State, an automobile mechanic operating on the outskirts of Abuja, urged candidates to focus on policies that could improve the livelihoods of artisans, mechanics, traders and other informal-sector workers.
He said political campaigns should provide concrete answers on employment, infrastructure, electricity and access to affordable credit rather than become platforms for exchanging insults.
Wongcit Nanyi Mamdat, from Plateau State and working in Abuja, said politicians should be restrained in their choice of words, particularly because inflammatory statements could deepen existing ethnic and religious tensions.
She urged political parties to tell Nigerians how they intended to address insecurity and create an environment in which citizens could live and conduct their businesses safely.
Blessing, a student at the Bingham University in Nasarawa State, told BusinessDay that young Nigerians should be central to the 2027 campaign conversation.
She said political parties should present clear plans on education, employment, digital opportunities and entrepreneurship instead of treating young people merely as campaign crowds and social-media promoters.
Blessing said politicians must understand that young Nigerians were tired of promises that were not matched by actions, and urged candidates to present measurable programmes and explain how they intended to implement them.
Analysts say the 2027 campaign therefore presents political parties with an opportunity to change the character of electoral competition by making policy debates, accountability and competence central to the contest. It also places responsibilities on the candidates, their supporters, security agencies, the media and INEC to ensure that political competition does not become a trigger for violence.
Professor Joash Amupitan, chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has also stressed the need for peaceful conduct throughout the electoral process, saying the success of the 2027 elections is a collective responsibility that requires the commitment of political parties, security agencies, the media, civil society organisations and the electorate.
As the August 19 campaign commencement draws closer, the 2027 contest presents politicians with a test that goes beyond their ability to mobilise crowds or win votes. They are expected to demonstrate that they have workable solutions to Nigeria’s economic hardship, insecurity, unemployment, poverty and deteriorating public services, and clearly explain what they intend to do, how they will do it and how Nigerians can hold them accountable.