A few years ago, rolling back the mat of history, Nigerians living in Nigeria, the most populous Black Race in the world, were declared the happiest homo sapiens (people) on Planet Eartn.
Not because they were fed with freebies or manna from above, or living the El Dorado lifestyle of mega lottery jackpot winners! Nay. Nigerians, naturally, were born with innate characteristics of contentment - a desire hinged on ancestral socio-cultural heritage of simplicity, humility and hospitality.
But what has suddenly gone amiss? For a country of "we are a happy people, we'll make you happy'', a la Fuji music maestro Adewale Ayuba, to be running downtown with a big frown! Wahala dey, truly. No clowning.
Therefore, as Nigeria inches towards 2027, the mood on the streets is not that of excitement, but of exhaustion. It is a nation smiling for cameras while frowning in its heart. A nation frustrated, fatigued, and sliding into collective depression.
What has changed our psyche as a blooming bunch of jolly good fellows?
Now people say we have been here before. Every election cycle promises renewal. Of hope or better life. Every ballot is sold as a birth certificate for a new Nigeria. Yet after the music stops, the same questions remain: Where is the light? Where is the food? Where is the security, where are the jobs? All phantom pledges, most times. No wonder the wave of frustration and desperation. Plus the sackcloth gown of frown in a nation of hitherto merry men and women. No more Baba Oyoyos welcome for politicians. Everything seems monetized. Even poverty has been weaponized.
Nowadays, the frustration is deeper and darker.
One needs not to break a lip or hip to see the pain of want, poverty and hunger in people's hearts.
These precarious situations abound everywhere, so much so that the International Monetary Fund, IMF, recently declared that 63% of Nigeria's over 200 million population are currently entangled and enmeshed in multidimensional poverty and squalor. More sordid was the tag of the country as the "world's headquarters of poverty."
Even the pedigree of Nigerian International passport has been lowered abysmally to 181 position amongst the comity of nations identity trademark!
And the country's economy is not smiling either. It has been frown, frown, frown. Despite the expansion clamour and mega rise advocacy of government apologists on macro economic growth. The ordinary man on the street is daily losing funds in his pockets due to high cost of living caused by petrol subsidy removal, transport fare hike, insecurity, unemployment and hyperinflation.
The average Nigerian does not debate GDP rebasing. He debates survival. How he will survive today and thrive again tomorrow! A nation of people living from hands to mouth. Very beggarly.
A market woman in Wuse, Dutse, Dugbe, Balogun or Fege who voted in 2023 with hope now spends 300% more to stock her shop than she did then. A young graduate in Abuja, Umuahia, Ubiaja, Abakaliki or Kano who queued for hours to vote now queues for hours to buy fuel, beg for food or a job that pays less than his transport fare.
Meanwhile, inflation is no longer a statistic in a CBN bulletin; it is a daily insult or assault. When a bag of rice becomes a luxury item, ditto for a bag of cement; when electricity becomes a privilege, when rent swallows salary, the social contract collapses. A hungry people cannot be a hopeful people. And a hopeless people approach elections not with enthusiasm, but with cynicism and apathy.
We also need not remind ourselves that Nigeria is a nation of honestly frustrated youths. Ours is a young country led by an old conversation. Over 70% of our population is under 35, yet the political language remains partially archaic, analogue and anachronistic.
Our teeming youth population has not failed the system; rather the system failed to imagine their plight and appreciate the strength of their innovative ideas They are tech-savvy, nano-driven and crypto currency and robotics inclined in a government still struggling with digital identity. They are global in aspiration but trapped in a local reality of daily infrastructural breakdown and social amenities inadequacy, essential workers' strikes, police harassment, zero credit and lack of inclusion or representation in governanment. It is such a forlorn and damning situation.
In 2023, the youth turned out enmasse to participate in the electoral process. They tweeted, canvassed, and believed. What they got in return was a familiar lesson: structure defeats spirit. Unthinkable glitch @inecnigeria. Still unexplained. Now, as 2027 approaches, many are not asking "Who should we vote for?" but "Why should we vote at all?" That is the most dangerous question any democracy can face — when apathy replaces anger.
Hostility, inadvertently, becomes the trusted companion of the average Nigerian electorate, who now finds it hard to entrust power into the hands of a seemingly insincere poltical class. What a dilemma? Because universal suffrage is a fundamental human right for every adult in a democratic clime.
This slope of depression is far beyond economic strangulation. There is a clinical depression spreading across Nigeria that no hospital is recording. It is the depression of the father who cannot explain to his child why there is no foid on the table and no light to read. Of the mother who watches her brilliant son ride Okada with a first-class degree. Of the farmer nationwide who farms and still cannot sleep for fear of attack by marauders or bandits. Of the prospective Youth Corp member frightened to travel outside his or her home state to serve the nation elesewhere. NYSC is scared for fear of abduction or kidnap for ransom.
Trauma normalized is a strange irony. Afrobeats legend, Fela Kuti once sang satirically: "Suffering and Smiling." Our pains are now ingredients for social media content. We turn pain into memes. But behind the joke is a frown that has become permanent. "Which Way Nigeria" a female reggae artist asked lyrically in the 1980s. That poser still lives decades after, unanswered.
A nation in depression cannot think clearly about elections. It votes out of anger, not vision. It chooses out of desperation, not direction. And that is how we recycle leadership without renewing leadership. Real dilemma.
Hence, for a positive turn around, Nigeria needs statesmanship and stewardship fusion in a compassionate leader: a visionary youth mentor, job creator, education and public health investor, tech-savvy innovator and industry-minded, selfless administrator. Thoroughly search today's political landscape and pick the right choice among the gladiators.
The 2027 presidential poll slated for January 16, must not be another expensive poltical holiday or a hollow ritual. It must be a referendum on competence, not conspiracy or autocracy: far from the hegemonic overlordship by the class of political oppressors. It must be about people's power of possibilities. One man, one vote. Counted and announced transparently. And fair play all through. Nigerians need to decide their poltical fate via free, fair and credible balloting.
Going into 2027 with the same past toolbox: money-bags politics, ethnic arithmetic, religious blackmail, and last-minute palliatives — we will get the same result: a frustrated nation with a frowning flag.
At this juncture, the clarion call to critical stakeholders should be as follows:
For INEC and the Federal Government: Credibility and integrity are not to be merely declared; but must be seen as practically and pragmatically demonstrated and entrenched.
The electoral process must be transparent: voter registration, recruitment of INEC staff including adhoc, level playing ground for all contestants, real-time result integrity, and severe punishment for vote-buying. All must start now, not in January 2027. Elections must be won at polling booths, not corrupted collation centres or law courts! Nigerians are tired of excuses for failure. No more room for glitches!
The salient question by Hon. Abdusamad Dasuki of the House of Representatives that INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan should open up to the country on the Electoral Commission's level of preparedness and readiness to conduct a credible polls next year, cannot be over emphasized. INEC's communication must have equal comprehension by the tax payers -- electorate. This will reduce the trust deficit between both parties. Nigerians are watching.
As for political parties: why rent crowds when you can build ideas. Nigeria does not need manifestos buried in fancy literature. We need one honest conversation: How do we produce? How do we secure? How do we include? Nigerians need a leader they can pride to truly represent them. Not palliative donors every four electoral circle years.
And the task for the office of the citizen is simple. Since Democracy iis the government of the people, for the people and by the people. Every citizen must arm him or herself with a voting card, PVC. Vote and monitor your vote. Ensure your vote counts. Because frustration is not a strategy. And depression is not a plan. To disengage is to surrender the country to those who benefit from your silence. Enough of complacency and political rascality.
Our dear country, Nigeria is not a failed nation. It is a frustrated nation. And frustration, properly channeled, can be the necessary fuel for re-invention, innovation, industrialization and modernization. Let's queue behind a leader who knows his onions and is ready to actualize our collective dream of a better nation. Choose wisely.
It is vital not⁶ to ignore the frown — if we pretend all is well because the conference halls in Abuja are air-conditioned — the frown will become a scream at the ballot, or worse, a silence that speaks louder than any vote. Viva Nigeria.
We must lift this depression before we count the votes. Let's vote for affordable standard of living, equitable wealth distribution, security, qualitative and affordable education, gainful employment, dignity of labour and peaceful retirement, production-driven economy, egalitarian society, innovation and industrialization, zero tolerance for corruption, youth and women inclusion and good national reputation.
Finally, next year's poll means more for Nigerians and to Nigeria. Let's not be bamboozled. Enough of poltical theatrics laced with empty promises and rascality. Peoples participation is the beauty of democracy. Thus, let's shun apathy and hostility. Let's vote enmasse to address matters affecting us today and build a sustainable tomorrow. Together, we can bring the change that we all desire. After all every actor emerges from the fold of spectators. Ditto for political leaders. Let's vote our conscience without pecuniary influence or bullying.
Long live the good and long suffering people of Nigeria. "NIGERIA GO SURVIVE" in cherished memory of the late music stallion, Onyeka Onwenu. A people is as good as the leader they elect or choose. Vote rightly.
Chief Alaba Yusuf is a public affairs analyst who writes from Abuja
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