Nigerians have tolerated so much political dysfunction that they risk losing the will to demand better, a columnist warns, saying the 2027 election represents a last opportunity to reset the country's direction.
Ayo Akerele, writing in Premium Times, draws on Aristotle's observation that tolerance becomes dangerous when a society grows too passive. He argues that Nigerians have developed a ruinous habit of accepting failures that would spark upheaval elsewhere. The damage runs deeper than disappointment with individual leaders. It is a collective numbness that politicians exploit because they know citizens will endure almost anything rather than fight.
Ekerele captures the paradox that defines Nigerian life. Nigerians are praised for their resilience and ability to survive impossible conditions. Yet that same quality has become a trap. Instead of demanding accountability when systems fail, people simply work around the failures. When roads crumble, Nigerians find alternate routes. When electricity vanishes, they buy generators. When schools collapse, parents pay for private education. The government extracts no cost for incompetence because citizens absorb the burden themselves.
This pattern has held for decades. Elections come and go. Promises are made and forgotten. Security deteriorates. The economy staggers. Schools and hospitals empty as public services decay. Yet the cycle repeats without fundamental change because Nigerians, despite their frustration, keep accepting what comes next.
Ekerele's warning is specific: 2027 is different because it may be the last moment when Nigerians still possess the collective energy to alter course. After another cycle of disappointment, he suggests, the nation risks becoming so worn down that even the will to vote will fade. The opportunity to choose a genuinely different path will have passed.
The argument cuts against the grain of how Nigerians see themselves. Nigerians take pride in their capacity to endure, to smile through hardship, to find joy despite circumstances. But Ekerele insists that virtue, stretched too far, becomes vice. A society that accepts everything changes nothing.
The 2027 presidential election will determine whether this warning takes root or becomes another voice lost in the noise of Nigerian political life.
