By Nnaoke Ufere, PhD
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Since independence in 1960, Nigeria has had sixteen different heads of state, some military and some civilian. Every one of them promised a better Nigeria, and every one of them left us still searching for it.
These disappointments are no accident. Every failed regime, every corrupt administration, every stolen election, and every looted treasury thrived because we, through silence, complacency, or fear, permitted it.
Since the dawn of the Fourth Republic in 1999, we have recycled the same faces, the same regional cabals, the same ethnic blocs, the same corrupt networks. We surrendered our voices, squandered our votes, and stood passive while every pillar of our nation and every part of our lives deteriorated under incompetent and wicked leadership.
From Obasanjo to Jonathan, from Buhari to Tinubu, each chose tribal and partisan loyalty over merit. Each squandered our national wealth instead of building our future.
Oil riches that could have secured generations were looted. Infrastructure funds that could have connected our cities vanished. Education budgets that could have empowered our youth evaporated. Healthcare investments that could have saved lives disappeared. What should have been the foundation of greatness was scattered like ashes, leaving us with broken promises and a stolen future.
And with each administration, the damage deepened. The economy collapsed, security deteriorated, unemployment and inflation soared, poverty spread, and human misery multiplied.
*_Jonathan was worse than Yar’Adua. Buhari was worse than Jonathan. Tinubu is worse than Buhari. And when I look at the line-up of those who might replace Tinubu — Atiku, Obi, or even Jonathan again — I see the handwriting on the wall. They will most likely be worse than Tinubu._*
The tragedy is that we keep entrusting the machinery of governance to people unfit to manage a village council, let alone a nation of over 200 million. In doing so, we condemn ourselves to the rule of power-hungry vampires who drain our country’s lifeblood, squander our resources, and push us closer to collapse.
Only in Nigeria do visionless and inept figures like Atiku, Jonathan, Obi, and Tinubu keep returning as presidential contenders despite character flaws, lack of intellectual capacity, and the absence of any real problem-solving skills to address the complex problems we face.
And as 2027 draws near, the snake dance has already begun. The same serpents, Tinubu, Atiku, Jonathan, and Obi, are already wriggling and slithering, while other creepy aspirants lift their forked tongues to the air, waiting for the right moment to join the macabre dance.
We have been told, time and again, to wait for the “right” leader, the messiah who will fix everything. But that hope has failed us sixteen times already. The truth is hard but unavoidable: no one is coming to save Nigeria unless we decide to save it ourselves.
*_Unless we shatter this cycle of Inept and kleptocratic leadership, our seventeenth president will be nothing more than a mirror of the sixteenth, Tinubu, the embodiment of recycled power, entrenched corruption, and progressive failure._*
The evidence is all around us. Our economy is broken. Our schools are shells. Our hospitals are graveyards. Our roads are death traps. Our justice system is for sale. Electricity, clean water, safety, dignity, all are promises made and promises broken. What once felt like progress now feels like retrogression, and for many, life today is harder and less dignified than it was decades ago.
I remember the late 1970s and early 1980s at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Education carried real weight. Faculties brimmed with brilliance, research labs pulsed with discovery, and facilities inspired learning. Electricity was steady and affordable. I could leave my village, travel to Nsukka, and arrive at night without fear. Opportunities abounded, good jobs, fair pay, and the unshakable belief that tomorrow would be brighter than yesterday.
But that Nigeria has vanished. It was wrecked, again and again, by visionless and inept miscreants posing as leaders. The blundering and plundering started right from the First Republic, when what should have been a foundation of unity became an arena of greed and division. Leaders carved the country into fiefdoms, fed their tribes, rewarded their loyalists, and treated our common wealth as private treasure. From the very beginning, the promise of independence was betrayed.
*_From Ironsi to Gowon, from Babangida to Abacha, from Obasanjo to Jonathan, from Buhari to Tinubu, the cycle of failure has been relentless. Yes, a few tried with sincerity. Murtala Mohammed brought urgency before his life was cut short. Umaru Musa Yar’Adua showed honesty of purpose before death silenced him. Even Gowon, in his early years, tried to hold the nation together despite grave missteps and the terrible human cost of the civil war. But these were rare sparks in a long, dark night of betrayal._*
And today, Tinubu’s performance, or lack thereof, is the evidence. The choice of potential replacements is a false one. Atiku, Jonathan, Obi, none of them represent the future. They are relics of the same broken political order, speaking the language of change while walking the path of decay. To choose among them is not to choose progress, but only to choose which custodian of failure will preside over our decline.
Why do the worst always rise to the top? Because money buys power. Because poverty is weaponized. Because tribalism blinds us. Because institutions are weak. Because the media is captured. Because we mistake swagger for substance. And because we, the citizens, remain docile. In this culture, the corrupt are rewarded, the honest are crushed, and the bad men rise while the best among us are pushed aside.
But the law is not powerless, it is powerful when we use it. Section 88 of the Electoral Act 2022 sets limits on campaign spending, punishable by prison terms and fines. Yet this law is ignored because we, the people, do not enforce it. If politicians overspend, we can gather evidence, report them to INEC and EFCC, and even go to court ourselves. The tools are in our hands. What remains is the courage to use them.
*_And let me emphasize this: under Section 24 of the Criminal Procedure Act and Section 20 of the Criminal Procedure Code, every Nigerian has the right to carry out what is known as a Citizen’s Arrest. This means that any person, including a politician, caught in the act of committing a felony such as vote buying, bribery of officials, ballot snatching, or looting of funds, can be detained by citizens without a warrant and handed over to the police or INEC._*
This is people power in its purest form. The same law politicians hide behind is the same law that gives citizens the power to hold them accountable. It is not symbolic. It is real. When leaders break the law, it is not enough to complain. We have the right and the duty to act.
We have complained long enough. We have suffered long enough. We have waited long enough. No one will hand us the Nigeria we dream of. We must take it. We must be the ones who refuse the bribes, reject the lies, confront the godfathers, and protect every single vote.
If we stand together, no power is greater than us. The fight is not for the next election. It is for now, for our children, for our dignity, and for the future we refuse to lose.
So, who will save Nigeria?
Not Tinubu. Not Atiku. Not Jonathan. Not Obi. Not any other figure produced by the cesspool of corruption and elite manipulation. They are the architects of our decline and the custodians of our suffering.
Only us, the oppressed, the dispossessed, the ignored, the left behind, the long-suffering millions of ordinary Nigerians, will save Nigeria. We alone carry the advantage of numbers, the weight of legitimate grievance, and the strength of people power.
If we choose to rise, to use that power, to dismantle the rotten system that has enslaved us, no cabal can withstand us. We must cast aside the old order, refuse the recycled candidates of corruption, and insist on leaders who embody merit, integrity, and vision.
From among us, new leaders will emerge before 2027 — leaders untainted by the failures of the past, leaders who can harness our diversity for unity, our wealth for prosperity, our strength for security, and our spirit for true patriotism.
*_Nigeria will not be saved by messiahs from above. Nigeria will be saved by us from below. The time is now. The choice is ours. Tribe, religion, or region will not divide us. Together, we can rise as one people, reclaim our nation from the grip of corruption, and build a future of unity, justice, and prosperity that generations to come will be proud of._*
About the Author*
_Nnaoke Ufere is a leading voice in African public thought and policy. He writes a weekly opinion column for the African Mind Journal, where his work shapes national conversations on leadership, governance, and reform. He is the author of *Covenant With Nigerians: Reversing Our Country’s Decline*. A Harvard alumnus and PhD holder in Strategic Management from Case Western Reserve University, Ufere is an influential author, public intellectual, and global development analyst whose insights on U.S.-Africa relations and institutional accountability continue to challenge the status quo and inspire change._
