Nigerians told presidential, governorship and legislative candidates to shelve the familiar slogans, personality attacks, ethnic and religious mobilisation The post 2027 Campaign: What we want to hear from candidates – Stakeholders appeared first on Vanguard News .
•We need answers on economy, security, jobs, power, education, housing, healthcare, others
By Clifford Ndujihe, Politics Editor
AS political parties and candidates hit the streets on campaigns for the 2027 general polls, a host of stakeholders and citizenry have told the contestants what they want to see and hear.
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In interviews with Vanguard, 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.
Former chairman of the 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.
Waheed Saka, Convener of Dialogue 365, said food security should be at the heart of the 2027 campaign. “For me, it is time we addressed food security by political parties and their candidates. Enough of hate speech and unnecessary attacks on personalities,” he said.
According to him, candidates must explain how their agricultural policies would guarantee food security, reduce poverty and tackle hunger. “We have heard enough of attacks on personalities, we need to hear what the parties and their candidates will do to better the lots of the people,” Saka added.
No character assassination, tribal, religious sentiments
A Chartered Librarian and public affairs analyst, Ayo Arogundade, also demanded issue-based campaigns, warning against character assassination, tribalism, religious sentiments and other divisive tactics. He said the APC must be prepared to account for its record in government, while opposition candidates must demonstrate why their programmes would produce better outcomes.
“Let the campaigns of presidential candidates be issue-based campaigns. They should campaign on issues affecting Nigerians. They should tell Nigerians what they want to do. Each candidate should tell Nigerians what they have that are better off than their competitors,” Arogundade said.
He urged presidential candidates to debate the economy, subsidy policy, infrastructure, energy, education, healthcare, foreign exchange, fiscal and monetary policy and security. He also called for town hall meetings and media debates.
“This is a serious business. Nigeria is a serious project,” Arogundade said, warning candidates against turning campaign rallies into jamborees of mudslinging and character assassination.
He added that Nigerians were not interested in tribalism, ethnicity and religious sentiments but in their welfare and security.
Former Ekiti State Commissioner, Lanre Ogunsuyi, said candidates should present realistic policies on healthcare, education, security, infrastructure and employment. He advocated a comprehensive review of university curricula to make education more relevant to the labour market.
“Young people should not be made to study courses that will not give them employment at the end of the training. Because education itself is supposed to be an investment and there should be a return on the investment,” Ogunsuyi said.
He called for improved educational infrastructure, recruitment of qualified teachers, accessible learning opportunities and better funding. On security, he said presidential candidates must provide effective strategies against crime, terrorism and other threats while protecting lives and property.
He also identified stable electricity, good roads, efficient transportation, water supply, entrepreneurship, investment and sustainable job creation as critical priorities.
“Above all, they should demonstrate commitment to economic development, good governance, accountability and improved living standards for all citizens,” he said.
Community leader, Akinkunmi Olufemi, said security should be the starting point for the 2027 campaigns. He also demanded clear plans for healthcare and economic recovery, as well as measures to reduce utility costs, particularly electricity and telecommunications charges.
Olufemi warned candidates against the politics of vendetta and the “pull-him-down” syndrome.
“Nigerians need leaders who can focus on governance, development and the well-being of the people rather than spending valuable time attacking political opponents,” he said.
He also urged succeeding administrations to complete projects initiated by their predecessors, arguing that such projects were funded with taxpayers’ money and should not be abandoned because of a change of government. “The 2027 elections should therefore be about ideas, practical solutions, accountability and the welfare of Nigerians—not merely about political rivalry,” Olufemi said.
Niyi Rotimi, Head of Human Rights Department, Justice, Development & Peace Movement, Abeokuta, said Nigerians expected all presidential candidates and political parties to unveil clear manifestos and explain what they would do differently, if elected. He said voters were tired of endless criticism of the ruling party and wanted practical alternatives.
Rotimi listed insecurity, hunger, youth unemployment, cybercrime and cybersecurity, education, the growing number of out-of-school children, food production, agriculture, healthcare and poverty among issues requiring urgent attention. “Enough of endless and baseless talking. It is time for every presidential candidate and political party to present a clear, realistic and achievable agenda to Nigerians and convince the people why they are the best candidates to lead the country,” he said.
His words: “For now, what Nigerians expect from all presidential candidates and their political parties is a clear plan on: How to tackle insecurity and protect lives and property; how to tackle unemployment, particularly among young people; how to address hunger by increasing food production, supporting farmers and making food affordable; how to ensure an uninterrupted school calendar and improve the quality of education; how to provide affordable housing for ordinary Nigerians; how to make healthcare affordable and accessible to all Nigerians; how to provide uninterrupted and affordable electricity for households and businesses; how to construct and maintain good roads and develop an interconnected national road network; and how to provide affordable and reliable transportation across the country.
“Nigerians deserve less political noise and more practical solutions. They deserve leaders who will present clear plans, measurable goals and realistic strategies for transforming the country.”
From the Niger Delta came a more region-specific demand. Veteran governance and environmental rights advocate, Iniruo Wills, challenged presidential and governorship candidates to present concrete plans for tackling decades of environmental pollution in the oil-producing region.
Wills, a former two-time Bayelsa State Commissioner for Information and Environment, warned that candidates without explicit plans for cleaning up the Niger Delta risked losing the region’s votes. “Any candidate that has no explicit concrete plan for the region, including a Niger Delta-wide environmental cleanup, should be rejected by the region,” he said.
He urged candidates to undertake genuine listening campaigns and community-based consultations before finalising their manifestoes. “Principal candidates, presidential and gubernatorial, should learn to do a listening campaign, or real and felt people or community-based consultations, before they roll out their manifestoes on a roadshow,” Wills said. He described decades of oil pollution, gas flaring and ecological degradation in the region as “ecocide” and demanded stronger political accountability.
For Convener, South South Reawakening Group, Joseph Ambakederimo, food production, affordable housing and industrialisation should dominate the campaign. “Massive food production must be the most important item for discussion, with a focus on the ‘how’ rather than just mentioning it in passing,” he said. Ambakederimo questioned why affordable housing remained elusive despite Nigeria’s ability to meet its local cement requirements.
“Rent has skyrocketed beyond the reach of the ordinary man. We must take advantage of the abundance of local cement and invest in housing, this is a task for the candidates,” he said.
He also called for a better business environment and stronger support for local industries to create jobs for young Nigerians.
To former Presidential Candidate, Chief Peter Ameh, the 2027 campaign must focus on redesigning Nigeria’s education system to emphasise practical and sustainable vocational training.
He advocated restoration of public school infrastructure and urged serious consideration of free education as an instrument of national development. Ameh also linked education to security, arguing that no meaningful educational reform could succeed without a fundamental overhaul of the nation’s security architecture.
He said Nigeria’s vast agricultural land should be deployed productively through deliberate investment and greater involvement of young Nigerians. With the country possessing approximately 64 million hectares of arable land, Ameh said, Nigeria could become a global food powerhouse if the right policies and resources were deployed. “The coming campaigns must remain firmly issue-based. Candidates should address the concrete challenges confronting the common man and woman and avoid name-calling or mud-slinging,” he said.
National Organising Secretary of Afenifere, Apagun Kole Omololu, said the 2027 campaign should transcend slogans, personality cults, ethnic mobilisation and promises designed merely to harvest votes. He said Nigerians expected candidates to explain how they would revive the economy, stabilise the naira, curb inflation, create productive employment and restore citizens’ purchasing power. “Candidates must demonstrate that they understand the structural problems confronting Nigeria and possess realistic solutions rather than offering political wish-lists,” Omololu said.
He urged candidates to address security, education, healthcare, agriculture, electricity, infrastructure and social protection. Beyond these, Afenifere wants the presidential candidates to address restructuring of Nigeria’s political and economic architecture.
Omololu said Nigerians should be told how candidates intend to devolve power, strengthen federalism, promote genuine fiscal autonomy and ensure a more equitable distribution of responsibilities and resources among the federating units.
“Ultimately, Nigerians want a campaign that treats them as citizens, not merely as electoral numbers,” he said. “The 2027 contest should therefore be a competition of ideas, competence, character and credible programmes.”
Across the submissions, there is a striking convergence. Stakeholders may differ on emphasis – security in one region, environmental restoration in another, food production, education, housing or restructuring elsewhere, but they agree on one thing: the 2027 election should not be another festival of slogans, insults and personality attacks.
Journalist Henry Odeh captured the central question confronting the electorate: “What exactly are the candidates going to do differently to make life better for the people?” That question may well define the 2027 contest.
The electorate wants to know not merely who is contesting, but what each candidate intends to do, how the promises will be financed, when they will be delivered and how the candidate will be held accountable. For the ruling party, that means defending its record and explaining how its policies have affected ordinary Nigerians. For the opposition, it means offering alternatives rather than relying solely on attacks against the government.
And for the electorate, the challenge is to demand substance before casting the ballot. As Ameh puts it, the time for substance over noise is now.
****Dayo Johnson, Samuel Oyadongha, Rotimi Ojomoyela, Shina Abubakar, James Ogunnaike & Adeola Badru *also contributed to this report.
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