2027: Can Nigerians Fulfil Dreams While Asleep?
BY IKE ABONYI
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“The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.” — Martin Luther King Jr.
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Nigeria’s present political crisis has reached a point where only a fundamental transformation, brought about by comprehensive changes to the country’s political system, can resolve it. Hence the question posed above: ‘Can Nigerians Fulfil Dreams While Asleep? Or is Nigeria truly prepared for such change?
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This week’s political reflection stems from my curiosity, shaped by many years of experience as an active participant in this political environment since, and even before, 1999. I have worked in the newsrooms of two national newspapers, ThisDay and Champion, serving as Group Political Editor. I have also participated directly in the political arena as Media Adviser to two national chairmen of the PDP. This party has served both as the ruling party and as the opposition. To date, I remain involved in this political environment. On that basis, I can reasonably state that I am deeply familiar with the activities of this political era and sufficiently equipped to assess it.
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My experience indicates that Nigerians across all tribes, religions, and geographic regions desire good governance. At least seven out of every ten Nigerians want good governance. However, when it comes to taking action to achieve it, the outcome is reversed: only about three out of every ten Nigerians are prepared and willing to work toward that goal.
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With the pivotal 2027 election approaching and the country facing its current grave circumstances, the three leading contenders are now in the field: Peter Obi of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Atiku Abubakar of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), and the incumbent, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
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Across the country today — in the North and South, among Christians and Muslims, and across all ethnic groups — most people desire change, and they see only Peter Obi of the NDC as embodying it.
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Yet how many of those people are prepared to step forward and be recognised as actively working to bring about that change? The gap between those who desire change and those who are prepared and willing to fight for it is enormous. Whatever accounts for this disparity is precisely what continues to hold Nigeria back.
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Many Nigerians acknowledge that Peter Obi represents change, but they expect him to seize power from the wrongdoers through the same corrupt practices of the past rather than through the approach that distinguishes him.
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Why does Peter Obi stand out? The answer is simple: unlike the others, he is not a thief, yet they expect him to spend money like thieves in order to gain power. And on whom would he spend it? On the very people seeking change. Where should he obtain the money? Anywhere, even from thieves — as long as he spends it.
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They expect him to recruit violent young men to serve as political enforcers, killing and injuring others in the same manner as those they oppose. If he says he does not want anyone to die so that he can gain power, they conclude that he is not yet prepared. And who makes this argument? The very people enduring the consequences of poor governance while temporarily benefiting from the small gains distributed by corrupt individuals.
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What has truly kept Nigeria politically stagnant is that everyone wants change, but few are prepared to help bring it about. We all desire a better country, yet we resist the responsibilities necessary to build one. We complain about the destination while refusing to alter the path we continually choose.
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The central tragedy of Nigerian politics is that everyone expects different outcomes from the same old choices. We want to reduce drunkenness, yet we treat drunkards as our examples. Nigerians frequently demand change from their leaders while refusing to change their own political decisions. When politics is not involved, we condemn tribalism and religious bigotry; once politics enters the picture, however, we willingly submit ourselves to them. As Dangote’s refinery operates, no one remembers that he is a Fulani prince; everyone simply wants to go there and make money from him.
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Nigerians vote for a flawed system and then complain about its consequences, as though they played no role in creating it.
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Change demands participation; spectators may criticise, but they cannot create a new political order. The hypocrisy evident in Nigerian politics lies in demanding accountability from politicians while refusing to accept responsibility for the forces that empower them.
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If we genuinely desire different leaders, we must be willing to make different choices. If Nigerians truly want change and wish to have a President like Peter Obi, they must rise and enthrone him. A nation does not change merely because its citizens are angry; it changes when that anger is transformed into organised action. Dreams become reality only when action follows awakening—no one fulfils a dream while remaining asleep.
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The most difficult political transformation involves changing the habits that continually produce the politics we condemn. We cannot demand political reform while safeguarding the interests that sustain the old order.
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Desiring change is easy—it resembles dreaming. The true test lies in working for it, making sacrifices for it, and defending it when it arrives. No progressive people can permanently entrust responsibility for their political future to politicians and still expect to prosper. When people refuse to participate in changing the system, they forfeit the right to act as though the system changed without them, because indifference that produces an outcome amounts to endorsing the act.
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If, by 2027, we fail to elect the President we seek, the cause will be political hypocrisy—calling for sweeping change while declining to undertake the labour, compromise, and sacrifice required to bring it about.
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If we decline to take part in transforming the system, we forfeit the right to act as though the system transformed itself.
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Frederick Douglass was a renowned American activist and essayist, and the two statements of his quoted here reinforce the point about a society such as Nigeria’s seeking change without doing what is necessary to achieve it. Speaking of progress that has not been earned, Douglass wrote: “If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favour freedom, and yet deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without ploughing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters.” He reinforced the same idea when he said, “I prayed for freedom for twenty years but received no answer until I prayed with my legs.”
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The fundamental truth remains unchanged: we must live with the consequences of our choices, for it has long been said that every society receives the kind of government it deserves. The great philosopher Plato captures the consequence succinctly: “The penalty every good man pays for refusing to participate in politics is being ruled by his inferiors.” To demand better governance while tolerating or perpetuating the conduct that enables poor governance is the ultimate double standard.
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If the oft-repeated and uncontested maxim is correct — that people receive the government they deserve — then whom should Nigerians hold responsible for today’s poor governance? President Tinubu, or the citizens who brought him to power? If the claim is that he imposed himself on the people, since he was not genuinely elected freely into office, why did the people permit it?
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In the end, the people — the citizens who vote in referenda and plebiscites but failed to use that power — bear responsibility for poor choices, misplaced loyalty, ethnic or religious considerations, vote-sorting, political apathy, and the failure to hold leaders accountable.
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Whenever citizens relinquish their responsibility, they strengthen those who misuse power.
Nigeria’s political tragedy is not simply that poor leaders exist; it is that we, the people who suffer under their misgovernance, continue to permit their return.
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As Nigerians approach a crucial election in 2027, they must recognise one difficult truth which is that democracy does not conclude when votes are cast; that is where civic responsibility begins. A nation receives the government it tolerates no less than the government it elects.
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Ultimately, the difficult and unsettling question at the heart of this discussion is not whether Nigerians desire change, but whether they are genuinely willing and prepared to act and accept responsibility for the choices that bring it about. Let January 16, 2027, determine. God help us.
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ABONYI is a Political Editor at Large. (First published by New Telegraph on Thursday 23, 2026)
