Nigeria has entered another countdown. INEC's release of the full 2027 election timetable signals the official opening of the political gates -- new voter registrations, party primaries, candidate submissions, campaign flags, and the eventual ballot. Yet beneath this choreography lies the deeper, darker question: will any of this change the nation's destiny? Or are we preparing once again for what Fela Anikulapo Kuti immortalized as a "demonstration of craze" (a democracy that performs rituals without delivering justice?)
What matters most is not the precision of INEC's dates but the credibility of the political actors who will populate them. Nigeria has mastered the art of preparing for elections while failing to prepare for leadership. The cycle is familiar: voters register, candidates emerge, campaigns roar, and then the nation returns to its default setting; disappointment. Fela's words remain painfully accurate: "My people dey fear too much... we fear to fight for freedom." An election timetable means nothing if the same fear-driven, patronage-fed politics continues to govern the choices of the electorate and the actions of the elite.
INEC's plan is technically robust -- BVAS, electronic transmission, staggered campaigns, strict nomination windows. But Nigeria's problem has never been the architecture of elections; it is the architecture of power. Institutions can be fortified, yet the political culture remains corrosive. Party primaries in July-September 2026 will be the first arena where the nation will see whether anything is different. Historically, these primaries have been the birthplace of manipulation. Fela warned that "the oppressor's most powerful weapon is the mind of the oppressed," and nowhere is this clearer than in the internal politics of Nigerian parties, where delegates rarely vote conscience -- only currency.
The release of candidate lists by November 2026 will spark the usual debates about competence, credibility, and character. But Nigeria has reached a point where voters must confront an uncomfortable truth: elections do not automatically create good governance. Institutions do not become strong merely because voters showed up; they become strong when citizens refuse to recycle the same architects of decay. Until Nigerians stop "suffering and smiling" -- Fela's enduring indictment. INEC's timetable will remain a procedural masterpiece floating on a dysfunctional political ocean.
Campaigns beginning in November and December 2026 will surely be intense. Speeches will rise, promises will multiply, and social media will overflow with theatrical patriotism. Yet the real battle is not between political parties; it is between Nigeria and its own history. The nation is fighting for the courage to break itself free from the tight grip of recycled elites, transactional politics, and disoriented ideology. Fela's prophecy that Nigeria risks becoming a beautifully packaged confusion remains the loudest alarm bell ringing beneath every banner and rally.
As February and March 2027 approach, the question becomes brutally simple: will Nigeria finally deliver an election that transcends routine? Or will it once again march confidently into the future while circling the same old mountain of dysfunction? INEC has done its part by releasing the timetable. The responsibility now shifts to the political elite, the voters, and the conscience of the nation. Fela may be long gone, but his voice remains Nigeria's unfiltered mirror. And until the country confronts that mirror without blinking, democracy will remain what he called it -- a performance staged in grand clothing, yet trembling under the weight of unfinished freedom.