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Professor of Political Economy and Convener of the Big Tent and Movement for Credible Election, Pat Utomi, has urged Nigerians to turn out massively for the 2027 elections, saying citizens must reclaim their power and influence the direction of the country through the ballot.
Utomi made the call at a media briefing in Lagos on Wednesday, against the backdrop of growing economic hardship and declining public confidence in key democratic institutions.
The Independent National Electoral Commission has fixed January 16, 2027, for the presidential and National Assembly elections, while the governorship and state assembly polls will hold on February 6.
“The state of our country is troubling. The pain, the hunger, and the anger in the land is so palpable,” he said, warning that widespread poverty was creating conditions that could be exploited through vote buying.
“Even as power continues to weaponise poverty through the buying of votes of those so hungry,” Utomi said.
He urged Nigerians to resist electoral manipulation and demand accountability from institutions responsible for protecting democracy, stressing, “The people must stand up and force compromised institutions to do right or pay a high price.”
Utomi expressed concern over declining public confidence in the judiciary, police, EFCC and INEC, saying, “Our institutions are crumbling while public confidence in the judiciary, the police and EFCC are at an all-time low.” He added, “Impunity must end in Nigeria if Nigeria is to survive.”
The political economist disclosed that the Big Tent and MCE were working towards live-streaming proceedings from every polling booth during the 2027 elections to improve transparency and reduce electoral malpractice.
He said the proposed system would also provide adequate redundancy to guard against technical failures similar to those experienced during the 2023 elections and weaknesses associated with INEC’s IREV platform.
Utomi also highlighted the severity of Nigeria’s economic crisis, citing figures attributed to the International Monetary Fund which he said showed that 35 million Nigerians were facing food insecurity. He further cited World Bank estimates that about 139 million Nigerians could be living in poverty by the end of 2026.
He said the hardship was increasingly affecting Nigerians who had previously been able to support themselves, recounting the growing number of requests for financial assistance he had received. “I was beginning to think that I was being targeted because I received like a dozen or more desperate solicitations for money,” he said.
Utomi said he later discovered that the situation was widespread rather than peculiar to him. “Until a few days ago, I realised that I wasn’t the only one getting those requests. It was all over the place,” he said.
He said the development showed how economic hardship was eroding the dignity of Nigerians and normalising dependence on others for basic needs. “So Nigerians have now lost their dignity that the shame of begging is nothing but has become a trend,” Utomi said.
