Eniola Yekini
As preparation for the 2027 general election is on the Top Gear, critical stakeholders have hammered on issue based campaign crucial to the development of the nation.
In interviews with journalists, Nigerians told presidential, governorship and legislative candidates to shelve the familiar politics of slogans, personality attacks, ethnic and religious mobilisation and present concrete, measurable solutions to the country’s mounting challenges.
The stakeholders identified insecurity, food inflation, unemployment, education, healthcare, electricity, housing, agriculture, industrialisation and economic reforms as issues that should dominate the campaigns.
They also demanded that the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, defend its record in office, while opposition parties should stop at mere condemnation of the government and present credible alternatives capable of convincing voters.
They spoke as political parties and aspirants intensified preparations for the 2027 elections, with the APC raising a presidential campaign council and the other parties strategising on setting up strong voters-wooing committees.
The stakeholders which included the former chairman Social Democratic Party, SDP, in Ondo State, Stephen Adewale, said candidates must move beyond slogans and vague promises by telling Nigerians precisely what they intend to do, how they will do it and when the results should be expected.
“Nigerians expect presidential and other candidates to move beyond slogans, personal attacks and vague promises. They should clearly explain how they intend to address the issues affecting people’s daily lives, particularly insecurity, the high cost of living, food inflation, unemployment, poverty, electricity, healthcare and education,” Adewale said.
He added that candidates must explain how their programmes would be funded and how citizens would hold them accountable. “The electorate deserves issue-based campaigns built around realistic and measurable programmes, rather than propaganda, ethnic or religious appeals, and promises that cannot be fulfilled,” he said.
Public affairs analyst, Ayo Fadaka, lamented what he described as the shallow nature of contemporary political campaigns, saying parties had failed to develop target-driven manifestoes capable of addressing Nigeria’s developmental challenges. “Our system needs to reinvigorate and recalibrate, therefore we must have a focused campaign, that is not given to platitudes, but realistic definitive agendas that will give hope and reset Nigeria,” he said.
Fadaka said Nigerians wanted to know how politicians would improve the lives of the poor, tackle insecurity and revive healthcare, education and agriculture. Industrialisation, he added, must feature prominently because “without it, unemployment will continue to soar.” He warned against allowing “cheap populism” to displace developmental issues, stressing that the ultimate goal should be to build “a flourishing Nigeria again.”
Social crusader, Bode Akinbode, similarly listed security, functional refineries, affordable and stable electricity and improved healthcare among the priorities presidential candidates should address.
He also called for job creation, affordable housing and policies to empower young agripreneurs and boost agricultural production.
For Ayo Ologun, spokesperson of The Osun Masterminds, TOM, Nigerians are no longer interested in hate speech or arguments over the academic qualifications of candidates.
“We are no longer interested in hate speech, academic qualifications of any candidates but we should hear how the party in government intends to better the lives of the populace while those in opposition should tell us about viable alternatives which can convince the electorates to vote the other way,” he said.
Ologun identified electricity, healthcare, education and insecurity as urgent national issues that must dominate the campaigns.