The 2027 elections are becoming a contest of alliances, not ideas. Naturally

We are being told that the 2027 elections are turning into a contest of alliances, not ideas. And I just want to say, with the greatest respect to analysts: turning? When did it start being about ideas?

Let’s be fair. We’ve seen this movie before. The plot is always the same. A group of important people sit in a room with very expensive chairs and announce that “the people are tired.” Then they form an alliance. Then they take a photo. A big photo. With everybody smiling at the exact angle that says, “We have never disagreed about anything in our lives.” Then everyone goes back to the car and checks who’s really going to be the candidate.

Because here’s the real question nobody asks at those press conferences: what will you actually do about electricity, prices, and the road in front of my house? Not “a vision.” Not “a new Nigeria.” A plan, preferably with a date, a budget, and a name of the person to shout at.

Instead we get arithmetic. “If this man joins that party, and that governor leaves the other party, and these senators cross the carpet, then we have a majority.” Sir, what are you building, a political party or a football transfer window? I’m waiting for the announcement: “After lengthy negotiations, the senator has agreed to a free transfer on a four-year contract with an option to defect.”

And the defections themselves! People now change parties the way I change my phone wallpaper, depending on mood, weather, and where the free food is. Yesterday’s “sinking ship” is today’s “home of progress,” and tomorrow’s “I didn’t leave the party, the party left me.” The only consistent ideology in the building is survival, and it is practised with remarkable discipline.

Now, to be balanced, no side owns this problem. The ruling party has a growing list of governors and lawmakers who found their way home to power. The opposition built a coalition that looked huge on day one and then began to show cracks the way a new building does when the contractor “saved” on cement. Everybody says the other side has no vision, and the funniest part is that they’re all right.

Meanwhile, the voter is doing what the voter always does: calculating. Calculating the price of garri, the price of fuel, and the price of the transport fare for the next journey to the polling unit. We don’t need a coalition of famous names. We need a coalition of answers.

So here’s my small request to every alliance, every party, and every candidate in 2027. Before the next photo, publish the plan. Not the slogan. The plan. We promise to read it after we finish buying the pepper.