Although the next general election is still some time away, Nigeria’s political class has already slipped fully into campaign mode. Across ministries, government houses, and legislative chambers, governance increasingly appears to be taking a back seat as political office holders focus more on securing re-election tickets or positioning themselves for higher offices.
In Abuja, hotels, guest houses, and political meeting points are once again filled with governors, lawmakers, commissioners, political aides, and party loyalists lobbying influential leaders, negotiating alliances, and seeking endorsements ahead of party primaries. Some of these politicians have practically relocated to the nation’s capital, where party headquarters and political gatherings now seem more important than the offices from which they were elected to serve the people. The danger in this development is obvious: when politics becomes permanent, governance inevitably suffers.
Political conversations now dominate virtually every aspect of public discourse. Even global events such as the forthcoming World Cup have struggled to displace politics from trending discussions. Defections, endorsements, alliances, and coalition talks are already in full swing. Governance-related headlines are increasingly overshadowed by political calculations and succession battles. For Nigeria, the election cycle has effectively become endless.
There are simply too many political activities currently going on in Abuja, turning the Federal Capital Territory into a massive political pilgrimage centre. That is where the manoeuvring, lobbying, alignments, displacements, and replacements are taking place. Politicians are busy courting power brokers, governors, party chairmen, influential stakeholders, and even the President and members of his inner circle. Screening committees, consultations, strategic meetings, and backroom negotiations are already ongoing at full scale. In fact, members of screening committees have suddenly emerged as emergency power brokers who must be courted by every possible means.
Unfortunately, public office holders now appear to be spending more time chasing tickets than solving public problems. In all these political calculations, it is governance that is paying the greatest price. The consequences are already visible in delayed projects, weak policy implementation, reduced public engagement, and distracted commissioners and aides who are more concerned about political survival than public service. Governors are increasingly consumed by succession politics, while lawmakers are focusing more on return tickets than on legislative responsibilities.
Citizens continue to fund governance with their hard-earned taxpayers’ money, yet what they increasingly receive in return is politics rather than service delivery.
It has almost become part of Nigeria’s political nature that the country is permanently trapped in campaign mode. The nation barely concludes one election before preparations for another begin. Public officials often spend the first year of their four-year tenure settling into office and building political structures. By the second year, they are consolidating power and strengthening alliances. By the third and fourth years, attention shifts almost completely to the next election cycle. The country is therefore caught in a system where politics never pauses long enough for serious and sustained governance to take place.
The irony is that party primaries themselves are increasingly turning into mere coronations rather than genuine democratic contests. As I noted here last week, there is a growing trend of imposed candidates and manipulated “consensus” arrangements. Many aspirants, after spending millions of naira and, in some cases, foreign currency, on mobilisation, consultations, and procurement of nomination forms, already suspect that the outcomes of party primaries may have been predetermined long before delegates cast their votes. State governors and influential party leaders are increasingly deciding who emerges as candidates. The coming primaries, therefore, risk becoming little more than formalities designed to legitimise decisions already taken behind closed doors.
This development is coming at a huge cost to both democracy and national development. Public office holders are neglecting governance and public responsibilities in pursuit of electoral ambitions and political survival. While they focus on personal aspirations, citizens continue to grapple with poor roads, worsening insecurity, inflation, unemployment, and persistent power challenges. There is also the disturbing issue of the misuse of state resources to pursue personal political ambitions, with government machinery subtly deployed for campaigns and political calculations. Equally troubling is the steady erosion of public trust, as many voters increasingly feel abandoned shortly after elections are won.
Nigeria currently operates a four-year electoral cycle, and a four-year mandate is supposed to mean four years of full, committed, and undistracted service to the people. Public office is not designed to be a part-time assignment. Elected officials owe citizens total commitment throughout their tenure. Ideally, performance—not political manoeuvring—should determine whether they deserve re-election or elevation to higher offices, such as governors seeking Senate seats or lawmakers eyeing governorship positions. But this is not the case.
There is therefore an urgent need for serious reforms in Nigeria’s electoral and political culture. For anything meaningful to change, there must be efforts to reduce the excessive length of the country’s political season. There should be clearer rules and stricter enforcement regarding premature campaigning and abuse of incumbency. Citizens, too, must demand performance before politics. Nigeria urgently needs a political culture that values governance just as much as it values elections.
Politics is undoubtedly an essential part of democracy, but it becomes dangerous when it completely overshadows governance. Nigerians did not elect governors, lawmakers, and presidents merely to spend their terms plotting the next election or lobbying for new political positions. They were elected to solve problems, implement policies, provide leadership, and improve the lives of citizens over a constitutionally guaranteed four-year period.
Unfortunately, the growing obsession with the 2027 general elections suggests that, for many politicians, public office has become less about service and more about perpetual political survival.
As the primaries of different political parties draw closer, the distractions will only intensify. Yet history is often kinder to leaders who govern well than to those who merely scheme successfully. The challenge before Nigeria’s political class, therefore, is both simple and urgent: govern first, campaign later.
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