By Musa Bakare
As 2027 approaches, Nigeria is once again witnessing a familiar political drama, old actors, new costumes, recycled promises. Men who once held power now parade themselves as reformers, preaching change while conveniently ignoring their own records, history is however not so easily erased.
Today, the loudest champions of the so called New redeemers are the very individuals who dominated Nigeria’s political space for decades:
Atiku Abubakar had 8 years at the centre of federal power, Peter Obi, 8 years as governor, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, nearly two decades in authority.
David Mark had over 26 years in leadership, Rauf Aregbesola, two decades in high office Rotimi Amaechi, over 20 years at the top, Aminu Tambuwal, two decades in power.
Nasir El-Rufai, over a decade as an accidental politician and Abubakar Malami, 8 years as Attorney General of the Federation.
This is not reform.
This is the establishment attempting to recycle itself.
These individuals had time, power, and opportunity to deliver the transformation they now loudly promise. Instead, they presided over many of the challenges Nigeria continues to grapple with today, only to return as self appointed saviors.
That is not just irony. It is calculated revisionism.
You cannot steer the ship for decades and then claim innocence when it drifts off course. You cannot midwife a broken system and suddenly market yourself as its solution. Nigerians must see through this.
While this coalition of convenience plots a political comeback, the All Progressives Congress (APC), under Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is engaged in the far more difficult task of rebuilding the nation and engineering the social landscape.
President Tinubu chose the necessary path. He ended the long standing fuel subsidy regime, a bold decision that previous administrations avoided, freeing up critical resources for national development. He unified the foreign exchange system, restoring transparency and laying the groundwork for economic stability.
His administration is accelerating infrastructure development across transport and energy while implementing social interventions to cushion the effects of reform on ordinary Nigerians.
These are not slogans.
They are decisions.
They are actions. This is governance in motion.
Reforms are not designed for applause they are designed for results. And the most impactful reforms are often the most difficult.
The contrast ahead of 2027 could not be clearer: On one side, ADC, familiar faces, polished rhetoric, and a troubling absence of accountability.
On the other, APC, a government taking responsibility, making necessary decisions, and laying the foundation for long term national recovery.
Nigeria does not need recycled leaders or recycled slogans. It needs continuity, courage, and a leadership that understands that real change is not declared, it is built over time.
2027 will be more than an election.
It will be a referendum on memory.
Will Nigerians remember who held power and what they did with it?
Or will they be swayed by nostalgia dressed up as vision?
This is a battle between responsibility and revisionism.
Between those confronting Nigeria’s problems…
And those attempting to escape their role in creating them.
Under President Tinubu’s watch, the road to a better Nigeria is already under construction, through reforms and firm leadership. It must not be handed back to those who ignored it for decades.
Enough of the politics of amnesia.
Nigeria must stay the course.
– Musa Asiru Bakare, a foundation member of the APC and political analyst, writes from Lokoja, Kogi State.
