Nigeriais in dire straits. To be fair, that is not news, let alone breaking news. At best, that is news which has been developing forever. Nigeria, it seems, has always been in dire straits.

History insists that the country struggled with governance and unity basics at the beginning (read, independence in 1960). Thenceforward, whether in military or civilian rule, the country has found it almost impossible to overcome corruption, ethnicity, maladministration, religion and the other day-to-day stumbling blocks of nationhood. The result is that even countries that came long after us as well as those that we literally had to sponsor through their turbulent eras have all overtaken us. Sad but true, our country has for an age been a global or continental laughingstock.

Other nationals readily point the finger at our country whenever global playground mockers seek the prototype of any booby price winner. It is always Nigeria this and Nigeria that when it comes to the worst examples of, one, atomistic societies; two, the most corrupt; three, self-hate/sabotage; four, sleeping giants, and, five, probably the world’s only country that deliberately prefers mediocrity to excellence. Fortunately, our resilience as a people has kept the country going. But for how long?

It is that critical question which the 2027 general ballot must answer and in an unmistakable way. Nigerians must not deceive ourselves as we have done, man and boy, that the next general election is the same as all others. Nigerians should not act as apathetically and as unpatriotically as is our wont, because the consequences might be disastrous both for the country and us. And 2027 represents our last of the last opportunities; a make-or-break date with history; 2027 is one God-given appointment that we cannot and should not toy with.

The forthcoming elections are not about any particular individual or political party. The ongoing national and subnational conversations about President Bola Tinubu or his party being responsible for where we are, as a country, sadly only reflects the fact that we are not yet ready to cross our own Red Sea. To be sure, it is not true that All Progressives Congress (APC), which by next May would have ruled the country for 12 unbroken years, can be scapegoated for a 67-year rot. I am not APC and by God’s grace shall never be, but that cannot make me jump on board the bandwagon of falsehood and hypocrisy. Even People’s Democratic Party (PDP), which handed over to APC after all of 16 years at the centre, cannot and should not be wholly blamed for where we find ourselves.

Ditto, the military and all other leaders the country has had over time. Everyone and every one played their part: they gave their best. Staying on the blame game and falsely and for this long is a tactical blunder: we should move forward. We should determine to never repeat past mistakes namely to carry on the exact same ways Nigeria and Nigerians have endured hitherto.

This is the way to go. On the eve of the next decisive big days, we should all agree -as a people and as leaders- that we have failed the country and ourselves. As leaders, we completely forgot both the mission and the vision. As citizens, we caused and fed what I call leadership distractions.

We must understand that we cannot have our cake and eat it. We cannot sow tares, as the Bible maintains, and plan -no matter how we fast and pray- to reap corn. When the electorate are coax-deceived with such carrots as ethnicity, religion, vote-buying and allied silly political partisanships, the outcome cannot be better than the democratic hole that Nigeria finds itself. We must first come clean by swearing never again shall we be this stupid.

Thereafter, we should extend the gaslighting or indeed targeting of our leaders to us -the people. While leaders may be the engine room of leadership, it can be argued that they are only a small part of the control architecture. Citizens occupy a greater spot and in fact play more roles and therefore have far more power in leadership. The problem with Nigeria is that citizens -who are essentially the kingmakers, the leadership recruiters- never see ourselves as leaders.

But, we are: yes, citizens are leaders. One, because we decide the fate of the latter: we pick them. Two, because they emerge always from among us: never from somewhere else. Citizens must henceforth come to the realisation that we are the more critical segment of leadership: we have the power to hire and to fire leaders!

Think about that for one long minute. Citizens fire leaders all the time. Leaders can never fire the citizenry. Leaders cannot exist except citizens allow them.

From the foregoing, this writer is arguing that in 2027 and beyond, we should not look to replace an incumbent simply because of their race or political party. The most important criterion must be performance. Let the discourse be something deep and seminal rather than the empty, watery version to which we have become accustomed. Let incumbents and their challengers be forced to share blueprint publicly, verbally and in writing, so the electorate can compare and contrast.

Let that -complete with the pedigree, character and quality of the candidate- be the sole criterion. There is no need to waste time over money politics, or we shall permanently be where we have been dying to leave. We should never begrudge those who buy leadership positions when they fall short in office or steal from us. It is kindergarten business sense: nobody buys or spends to lose!

Leadership is not business -in the sense of capitalist transaction. We should never commodify or partisanify our votes nor our inalienable right to choose leadership or we lose with it our human dignity and freedom to hold leadership accountable. For years, this has been Nigeria’s tragic political cul-de-sac. Nigerians cannot afford to continue to go downhill in 2027.

Of course, there can be no rounding off this election treatise without chipping in a paragraph or two on insecurity. It is a crying shame that Nigerians continue to use the ill wind that is as deadly and as disruptive as insecurity to drive political narrative that only seeks advantage. With children, women, students, teachers, policemen, politicians, soldiers among others already targeted or killed, insecurity or kidnapping or terrorism ought to have brought all sane patriots to the table. Alas, no, Nigerians are still busy laughing it off and living a lie.

It should not be so. No candidate or political party or citizen should see the wildfire as something just the President, not to mention governor or political party, can handle. Insecurity -like security- is everybody’s business. Nigerians should rise as a collective, as a patriotic army against this scourge. Enough of the needless bloodletting.

Finally, the 2027 polls must be about Nigeria. For once, let the people genuinely put aside our ego, our greed, our religiosity, our self hate and our unatomism to stand up to fight to save this country. Ad hoc staff members of Independent National Electoral Commission must, in discharging their all-important national duties, see themselves as being more leaders than even the Commission’s chairman, secretary, national commissioners, resident electoral commissioners, directors and others, on the payroll, who must themselves also be above board. This is one way to ensure that post-2027 Nigerians shall not have to groan because of leadership.

God bless Nigeria!