By Musa Bakare
As Nigeria steadily approaches the 2027 presidential election, the political journey of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu continues to invite profound reflection on destiny, leadership, sacrifice, perseverance and the will of God.
The journey has not been easy. Since assuming office, President Tinubu has confronted some of the most difficult economic and structural challenges inherited by any Nigerian government since independence.
His administration has taken politically difficult decisions, including the removal of petrol subsidy and the reform of the foreign exchange system.
Transformational leadership is rarely comfortable at the beginning. Great reforms often demand sacrifices before their benefits become fully visible.
Nations, like individuals, sometimes have to pass through the wilderness before reaching the promised land.
This is why President Tinubu’s presidency should not be judged solely by the immediate discomfort associated with reform, but also by the direction in which the country is being taken.
The administration has pointed to stronger public finances, increased revenue generation, improving macroeconomic stability and investments in infrastructure, education and human capital.
In July 2026, the Federal Government announced five social intervention and development programmes valued at about $3.05 billion, targeting poverty reduction, healthcare, education and community resilience.
The principle is simple: a nation cannot permanently consume its future merely to make its present comfortable. At some point, responsible leadership must make difficult choices that protect tomorrow.
President Tinubu has chosen that difficult road.
History is filled with leaders whose significance was not fully understood while they were still making history.
Abraham Lincoln faced fierce criticism while preserving the American Union. Winston Churchill was doubted before becoming the symbol of Britain’s resistance. Nelson Mandela endured decades of imprisonment before emerging as an architect of reconciliation.
Nigeria’s own history is equally instructive. Nation building has never been a straight road. Every generation inherits unfinished responsibilities from the generation before it.
President Tinubu inherited a Nigeria facing enormous fiscal, economic and institutional pressures. His response has been to pursue structural reforms rather than simply preserve the status quo.
Political success, however, is never exclusively a product of human calculation. The Bible says: “Except the Lord builds the house, they labour in vain that build it.”
President Tinubu’s political journey has been extraordinary. From his years in the private sector to his tenure as Governor of Lagos State, and from opposition politics to the presidency of Nigeria, his story has been one of persistence, political organisation and an unrelenting commitment to his vision.
Many political careers have risen spectacularly and disappeared just as quickly. Some individuals have possessed wealth without influence, influence without endurance, and power without lasting historical relevance.
Asiwaju Tinubu has endured.
That endurance can be interpreted as one of the mysterious ways through which God’s mercy operates in human affairs.
It is in this spirit that millions of Nigerians look toward 2027, not merely with political calculation, but with faith that the same God who has preserved President Tinubu’s journey will continue to guide him.
The 2027 election ultimately belongs to the Nigerian people. It will not be won by social media noise, political prophecies, insults, conspiracy theories or the loudest opposition rhetoric. It will be decided by Nigerian voters.
While some opposition actors remain preoccupied with political manoeuvring and endless searches for vulnerabilities, mobilisation for President Tinubu’s second term bid is intensifying, with support groups establishing grassroots structures across the country.
Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State, like several other political leaders, has publicly expressed support for President Tinubu’s 2027 re election, citing the need to consolidate the President’s reforms, achievements and infrastructure projects.
These developments are politically significant because elections are ultimately about coalitions, relationships, performance, organisation and the confidence voters place in competing visions of the future.
The opposition may assemble formidable personalities. It may construct new alliances. It may produce powerful speeches.
But Nigerian politics has repeatedly demonstrated one enduring lesson: a coalition against someone is not automatically a coalition for something.
The Nigerian voter will eventually ask the fundamental question posed in every serious election:
Who can best take Nigeria from where it is today to where it ought to be tomorrow?
Political loyalty cannot permanently substitute for performance.
The strongest defence of the Tinubu presidency is performance.
Every road completed, every school supported, every hospital strengthened, every young person empowered, every community secured, every investor attracted and every Nigerian lifted toward prosperity becomes another brick in the foundation of the Renewed Hope Agenda.
That is how political goodwill is earned.
No nation can prosper when its people live in fear. The Tinubu administration has continued to strengthen Nigeria’s security architecture, including measures to expand the Nigerian Army and increase the number of personnel available to defend the nation.
This is significant because sovereignty is not merely the ability of a government to issue decrees. Sovereignty means the capacity of the Nigerian state to protect its citizens, defend its territory and guarantee the rule of law.
Nigeria will continue to need the Tinubu government, courageous enough to confront insecurity rather than merely manage its consequences as it was in the past.
As Nigerians freely renew President Tinubu’s mandate in 2027, he will receive it as a sacred trust.
The President will continue to listen to the people, correct what needs correction, strengthen what is working and abandon whatever does not serve the national interest.
Victory in 2027 will not come merely because President Tinubu is the incumbent.
It will come because Nigerians believe that continuity offers a better future than uncertainty.
It will come because reforms increasingly translate into tangible improvements in the lives of ordinary citizens.
It will come because the administration communicates more effectively with Nigerians.
It will come because its political machinery reaches the grassroots.
It will come because Nigerians transform enthusiasm into organisation, organisation into mobilisation, and mobilisation into votes.
And above all, it will come by the mercy of the Almighty.
Many Nigerians believe that the difficult years of reform will eventually give way to greater prosperity; that today’s sacrifices will become tomorrow’s foundation; and that the hand of Providence remains upon the nation’s journey.
May the grace of God continue to strengthen President Tinubu, deepen his wisdom and give him the courage to complete the work he has begun.
When the Nigerian people, exercising their constitutional sovereignty in 2027, renew his mandate, may that victory become a renewed opportunity to build a stronger, more prosperous, more secure and more united Nigeria.
– Musa Asiru Bakare, a Political Analyst, writes from Lokoja, Kogi State
