Reflections Ahead of Nigeria’s 2027 General ElectionsRunning for office is not the same as running the officeNigeria is gradually entering another election season. Soon, the familiar rituals will intensify. There will be defections, coalitions, declarations, endorsements, rallies, manifestos and carefully choreographed appearances. Politicians will rediscover marketplaces and neglected communities. Candidates who have rarely interacted with ordinary citizens will suddenly speak the language of the street.Amid this familiar political theatre, Nigerians should ask a more consequential question. Are we choosing people who know how to run for office, or people who know how to run the office?The distinction is fundamental. Running for office requires political machinery, money, networks, visibility, messaging, party structures, coalition-building and an ability to mobilise voters. Running the office requires judgement, competence, discipline, integrity, policy knowledge, the ability to build teams, manage institutions, make difficult choices and accept responsibility for consequences.The skills that get a candidate elected are not necessarily the skills that enable a leader to govern effectively. Nigeria has too often discovered this distinction only after elections have been won and governments have been formed.The campaign is not the jobOur political culture has become remarkably sophisticated at evaluating campaigns and surprisingly weak at interrogating governing capacity. We frequently ask whether a candidate can win, but we devote far less attention to whether that candidate can govern. We debate where candidates come from, the size of their political structures, their endorsements, religion, ethnicity, zoning and electoral arithmetic. These considerations may matter politically, but none guarantees competence in office.A candidate can understand the mathematics of winning elections and still have little understanding of economics, public administration, national security or institutional reform. A politician may know how to assemble a winning coalition without knowing how to assemble a competent cabinet. Nigerians should therefore examine not only the ability of candidates to secure power, but also their preparedness to exercise it responsibly.Nigeria cannot afford another apprenticeship in governmentThe stakes in 2027 will be unusually high. Nigeria faces profound economic pressures, insecurity, unemployment and underemployment, institutional fragility, declining public trust and growing frustration among young people. The country also operates in an increasingly uncertain international environment in which geopolitics, technology, climate pressures and changing global economic relationships demand sophisticated leadership.This is not an environment in which leaders should begin learning the job after winning it. Nigeria cannot continue electing people first and discovering their governing philosophy later. We cannot keep handing enormous public responsibilities to politicians whose principal qualification is that they have mastered the internal politics of their parties or assembled sufficient resources to win an election.The presidency is not an internship, a governorship is not an apprenticeship, and a ministerial appointment should not be treated as political compensation. Public office is a responsibility to manage complex institutions affecting millions of lives. Competence must therefore become a democratic demand.Interrogate the record, not the rhetoricAs 2027 approaches, voters should become considerably more demanding. Every serious candidate should be required to demonstrate what he or she has managed before and what became better as a result.Where candidates have previously held public office, Nigerians should examine their records rather than the mythology surrounding them. Voters should consider what happened to public finances, whether institutions were strengthened, whether services improved, whether competent people were appointed, how criticism was handled and whether public resources were treated as genuinely public.Candidates from the private sector, civil society or other professions should face the same scrutiny. Their institutional record, difficult decisions, leadership choices and ability to translate ideas into outcomes should be examined. Leadership should leave evidence, and political biographies filled with positions but lacking measurable achievements should not be enough to earn public trust.Look at the people around the candidateNigerians should also pay closer attention to the people surrounding those who seek power. No president or governor governs alone. The quality of leadership is often revealed before an election by the quality of people a candidate attracts, trusts and listens to.A politician surrounded exclusively by praise singers should concern voters. A candidate unable to tolerate disagreement before acquiring power is unlikely to suddenly embrace dissent after acquiring it. The advisers, political associates and individuals entrusted with responsibility during a campaign can provide an early indication of the governing culture that may follow. Competence and character should matter at least as much as political loyalty.Manifestos should become governing documentsNigeria must also rethink the role of manifestos. Too often, manifestos are treated as campaign accessories. They are launched ceremonially, quoted selectively and quietly forgotten after elections.In 2027, voters, journalists, universities, professional associations and civil society should interrogate manifestos as prospective governing contracts. Promises to create jobs should explain which sectors will generate them. Security proposals should identify what will change. Poverty reduction commitments should indicate the policies, resources and realistic timelines involved. Proposals for restructuring or institutional reform should explain which laws and institutions must change and how the necessary political coalitions will be built.The objective is not to expect politicians to predict the future perfectly. Governing inevitably encounters unexpected events. The objective is to establish whether candidates have thought seriously about the country they seek to govern and whether their promises can survive contact with governing realities.Citizens are not spectatorsThere is also a deeper democratic problem. Election seasons encourage citizens to behave like supporters rather than employers. We defend candidates, attack their opponents, wear political colours and repeat slogans. Legitimate questions about competence are sometimes interpreted as attacks on preferred candidates.Democracy requires something more demanding. Politicians seeking public office are asking citizens to entrust them with responsibility, resources and authority. Voters should therefore approach elections with the seriousness of employers assessing applicants for exceptionally consequential jobs.No serious institution hires someone simply because the applicant is popular, wealthy, charismatic, comes from a particular community or can defeat other applicants. It asks whether the person can actually perform the job. The standards for managing a country of more than 200 million people should certainly not be lower.Political loyalty should never require intellectual surrender. Citizens can support candidates and still ask difficult questions. Indeed, responsible democratic participation requires precisely that level of scrutiny.2027 must be an election about governingNigeria’s 2027 elections will inevitably involve personalities, parties, regions, alliances and political calculations. That is the nature of competitive politics. Beneath all of this, however, should be a more important national test: which candidates are actually prepared to govern?The answer cannot be determined by the best speech, the loudest supporters, dominance of social media, the largest campaign war chest or even the ability to win an election. Nigeria needs leaders capable of translating political authority into public value.As aspirants begin positioning themselves and campaigns gather momentum, Nigerians should imagine not only the candidate on a campaign stage surrounded by supporters and making promises, but also the same person in office after inauguration, confronted by difficult decisions affecting millions of lives. At that point the campaign crowd will be gone, the music will have stopped, the slogans will offer little assistance, and the cameras will have moved elsewhere. What will remain are judgement, competence, character and leadership.In 2027, Nigerians should not merely decide who can run for office. They should decide who can run the office.