As Nigeria approaches 2027, the most urgent question is not who will win, but whether the Independent National Electoral Commission will continue to be perceived as a miracle center for politically “anointed” figures. In every electoral cycle since 1999, moments that should have been administrative conclusions have been elevated into spiritual spectacles. Victories are framed as destiny fulfilled, defeats as conspiracies interrupted. The rhetoric of inevitability, captured memorably in the phrase Emilokun (my turn) during the 2023 presidential contest, reshaped ambition into entitlement and competition into coronation. In that environment, INEC ceases to be a regulatory institution and becomes, symbolically, an altar where political prophecies are confirmed.
This perception did not emerge in a vacuum. It reflects a deeper fusion of religion, personality politics and weak institutional trust. In a society where faith language structures public life, political actors instinctively cloak strategy in spirituality. Coalition building becomes divine alignment. Electoral arithmetic becomes answered prayer. When results are declared, the winner often speaks less like a policy architect and more like a vessel of destiny. The electorate, fatigued by economic hardship and governance deficits, sometimes embraces this framing because it offers emotional certainty in place of procedural complexity. But democracy cannot survive on emotional certainty alone.
The structural danger of treating INEC as a miracle center is that it erodes civic agency. If outcomes are perceived as preordained, voters participation becomes ritualistic rather than decisive. Citizens begin to disengage, assuming that power rotates by elite negotiation rather than popular mandate. This weakens accountability. Leaders who believe their mandate is prophetic may feel less constrained by public scrutiny. Opposition, in turn, is painted as resistance to fate rather than legitimate democratic dissent. The political temperature rises, not because of policy differences, but because of existential narratives.
It is important to state with analytical clarity that electoral surprises are rarely supernatural. They are products of political organization, demographic shifts, elite bargains and campaign infrastructure. Nigeria’s electoral history demonstrates that those who appear suddenly triumphant often invested years cultivating networks, financing structures and cross regional alliances. The language of anointing masks the mechanics of power. By attributing victory to destiny, the political class avoids serious conversation about institutional reform, internal party democracy and governance capacity.
For INEC itself, the miracle center narrative is a reputational hazard. An electoral management body derives legitimacy from transparency, predictability and rule based conduct. When its actions are interpreted through theological lenses, every delay becomes suspicion and every technical failure becomes moral indictment. The commission is then forced to defend not just its procedures but its perceived loyalties. This is unsustainable for a country of Nigeria’s scale and diversity. Institutional maturity requires depersonalization of outcomes. The umpire must not be seen as a prophet.
Looking toward 2027, three imperatives are non negotiable if Nigeria is to transition from electoral mysticism to democratic consolidation. First, radical transparency in results management and technological deployment must become standard practice. Second, political parties must reform their primary processes, because flawed candidate selection is often the original sin of disputed elections. Third, civic education must re center sovereignty in the voter, not in elite rhetoric. When citizens understand the chain of custody of their ballots, the aura of miracle dissipates and is replaced by measurable procedure.
Nigeria stands at a constitutional junction. It can continue to romanticize elections as stages for anointed leaders whose “turn” has arrived, or it can strengthen institutions so thoroughly that no individual appears larger than the system. INEC was created to administer contests of ideas, not to validate narratives of inevitability. The republic’s future depends on whether it chooses policy over prophecy, systems over slogans and legitimacy over spectacle. In 2027 and beyond, the miracle Nigeria needs is not a predetermined winner, but an unquestioned process.
– Inah Boniface Ocholi writes from Ayah – Igalamela/Odolu LGA, Kogi state.
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