As each election cycle rolls around in Nigeria—and much of Africa—the public discourse is often saturated with cries for visionary leaders, redeemers, or miracle-working politicians to rescue the country from decades of dysfunction and despair. Campaigns bloom with lofty promises: reforms, integrity, and transformation. Yet, with each new administration, these hopes repeatedly crumble under the weight of a political system deeply entrenched in corruption, inefficiency, and misgovernance.
But is the failure of leadership truly the fault of the politicians alone? Or is the problem more deeply rooted in the society that produces, enables, and sustains them?
Where the Real Power Lies: In the Hands of the People
Democracy is predicated on numbers—majority rule—and that majority lies in the hands of the citizens. Therefore, the real power to produce transformational leadership does not lie with politicians alone, but with the electorate. However, this potential is neutralized when followers remain uninformed, politically naive, or complicit in the very rot they claim to oppose.
Nigeria is a country where people long for saintly leaders, yet the political culture and civic behavior suggest otherwise. Many voters operate not from a place of ideological conviction or civic responsibility, but through ethnic bias, religious loyalty, or outright transactional interest. When society is steeped in corruption but yearns for incorruptible leaders, it ends up feeding a system that cannot produce the change it seeks. It is like planting weeds and expecting wheat.
The Paradox of Expecting Roses from Thorns
This contradiction defines Nigeria’s leadership paradox: a corrupt society expecting incorruptible leadership. A nation consumed by nepotism, greed, and mediocrity cannot, by default, yield leaders who embody excellence and integrity. Citizens bribe to secure jobs, inflate project costs to win contracts, cheat to pass exams, and manipulate systems for personal gain. From the village to the highest echelons of government, the societal value system is fractured.
The same parents who preach morality at home may encourage their children to cheat to pass national exams. Business owners who curse corrupt government officials may evade taxes. This widespread cultural hypocrisy makes it almost impossible to nurture or even demand true leadership. Instead, it creates a breeding ground where leaders mirror the moral shortcomings of the very people who elect them.
The Cost of Political Illiteracy and Transactional Voting
Over 150 million Nigerians live in multidimensional poverty. For many, survival trumps civic engagement. In this environment, elections are often reduced to short-term transactions—handouts, rice, cash envelopes, and empty promises. Political campaigns rarely focus on ideologies or policies but thrive on populist slogans, tribal appeals, and token gifts. And when political power is purchased cheaply, accountability becomes expensive.
Citizens must realize that democracy is not just about voting—it is about informed, responsible, and continuous engagement. If people keep electing leaders based on sentiment, identity politics, or what they can personally gain, they forfeit the right to demand good governance.
Leadership Reflects Society, Not the Other Way Around
The fundamental truth is this: leadership is not created in isolation. It is shaped by the values, awareness, and expectations of the society from which it emerges. A society that values merit, integrity, and public service will hold leaders accountable and insist on high standards. Conversely, a society that tolerates dishonesty, mediocrity, and shortcuts will elevate those very traits into positions of authority.
Countries like Germany, Canada, and Finland boast strong leaders not because their politicians are extraordinary but because their citizens are. Their people demand accountability, protest injustice, vote based on issues, and punish corrupt leaders at the polls. In those societies, civic literacy is widespread, and the political space is populated by engaged and critical thinkers.
Broken Followership Breeds Broken Leadership
For decades, Nigeria’s failure has been blamed on a string of bad leaders. But this diagnosis is incomplete. The critical question should be: Who enabled them? Who campaigned for them, voted for them, and turned a blind eye to their misdeeds? Who justified incompetence because “he’s our son” or “she’s from our religion”?
Poor followership, characterized by ignorance, blind loyalty, and shallow engagement, has fertilized the ground from which bad leadership continues to sprout. Leadership failures in Nigeria are merely a reflection of a deeper civic and cultural rot.
When the People Rise, the System Must Respond
History teaches that genuine reform rarely starts in the government. Real change often begins from below—among the people. The civil rights movement in the United States, the Arab Spring in North Africa, and Rwanda’s post-genocide recovery all illustrate how a politically aware and morally resolute citizenry can force systemic change.
In Nigeria, glimmers of this transformation have already emerged. The #EndSARS movement of 2020, despite its violent suppression, represented a powerful civic awakening. It showed the potential of informed, youth-led activism to challenge entrenched systems. Likewise, civil society organizations like SERAP, BudgIT, and Enough is Enough are reshaping Nigeria’s civic space by holding leaders accountable and fostering policy transparency.
But these efforts must go further and deeper, reaching communities, markets, campuses, and religious institutions. Civic enlightenment should no longer be the privilege of the elite—it must become the default orientation of every citizen.
The 2027 Elections: Beyond Changing the Guard
As Nigeria approaches another election season in 2027, the real question is not who will replace whom. The critical task is to shift the moral and civic compass of the populace. Without a transformation in the way Nigerians think, choose, and interact with leadership, elections will remain a game of musical chairs.
The citizens must move from expecting miracles from messiahs to becoming torchbearers of change themselves. We must stop clapping for corruption just because the thief is “our own.” We must stop celebrating shortcuts as “smartness” and start holding ourselves—and others—accountable for every infraction against public integrity.
What Enlightened Followership Looks Like
Being an enlightened citizen doesn’t necessarily require a university degree. It means developing civic literacy—knowing your rights, understanding governance, recognizing propaganda, rejecting bribes, and voting with conscience, not emotion.
It involves asking hard questions, fact-checking political claims, participating in community advocacy, demanding transparency, and organizing around shared values. True citizens don’t wait for government to fix their lives—they mobilize to influence and even lead the change they want to see.
In Rwanda, for instance, national recovery was not achieved by President Kagame’s leadership alone. Community-based justice systems, local development initiatives, and a culture of civic duty helped rebuild a devastated country. That success story reminds us that leaders cannot operate above the level of consciousness of their people.
The Mirror of Leadership
Leadership is a mirror, not a magic wand. What it reflects is the character, knowledge, and expectations of the people it serves. The tragedy in Nigeria is not the scarcity of good leaders, but the gradual disappearance of the conditions that produce them. We no longer teach integrity in homes or schools. We glamorize wealth, not hard work. We reward connection, not competence.
Until that changes, Nigeria will continue to elect not the leaders it needs, but the ones it deserves. And the cycle of disappointment will persist.
Conclusion: From Passive Followers to Active Citizens
Nigeria does not need another “saviour.” It needs citizens who understand that democracy thrives only when followers are engaged, informed, and ethically grounded. The power to change the country does not lie in Aso Rock—it lies in the hearts and minds of the Nigerian people.
Let the 2027 elections be more than a political event. Let it be a civic revolution—one in which Nigerians reclaim ownership of their democracy by redefining followership. Only then can leadership evolve beyond personality cults and political transactions into genuine service.
In the end, the only lasting solution to Nigeria’s leadership crisis is the rise of a new kind of followership—wise, fearless, principled, and unyielding in its demand for excellence.
