2027: ‘Nigerians are hungry, angry’ – Utomi urges massive voter turnout

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Prof. Pat Utomi (middle) addressing the media in Lagos on Wednesday Photo: NAN

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Prof. Pat Utomi, Professor of Political Economy, has urged Nigerians to prepare for massive voter turnout during the January 2027 presidential election.

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Utomi, Convener of the Big Tent and Movement for Credible Election, made the call at a media briefing in Lagos on Wednesday.

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The Independent National Electoral Commission has scheduled the presidential and National Assembly elections for Jan. 16, 2027.

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The governorship and state assembly elections are scheduled for Feb. 6, 2027, according to INEC’s timetable.

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Utomi said massive participation was necessary to address Nigeria’s socio-economic conditions and strengthen citizens’ influence through elections.

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“The state of our country is troubling. The pain, the hunger, and the anger in the land is so palpable,” he said.

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He said widespread hardship had made saving Nigeria “a matter of desperation”, warning that poverty was increasingly being exploited for electoral purposes.

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“Even as power continues to weaponise poverty through the buying of votes of those so hungry,” Utomi said.

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He urged Nigerians to resist electoral manipulation and demand accountability from institutions responsible for protecting democracy.

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“The people must stand up and force compromised institutions to do right or pay a high price,” he said.

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Utomi also expressed concern over public confidence in key institutions, including the judiciary, police, EFCC and electoral commission.

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“Our institutions are crumbling while public confidence in the judiciary, the police and EFCC are at an all-time low,” he said.

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He claimed that many Nigerians no longer believed INEC was sufficiently independent, stressing that electoral integrity was crucial to Nigeria’s survival.

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“Impunity must end in Nigeria if Nigeria is to survive,” Utomi said.

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He said the Big Tent and MCE were working toward live-streaming proceedings from every polling booth during the 2027 elections.

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He said the initiative would help reduce electoral malpractice and provide greater transparency across polling units nationwide.

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Utomi said the proposed system would also address weaknesses associated with INEC’s existing IREV electronic results-viewing platform.

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He said there should be sufficient redundancy to prevent technical failures similar to those experienced during the 2023 elections.

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The political economist also highlighted the scale of Nigeria’s economic hardship, citing recent International Monetary Fund statistics on food insecurity.

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“Thirty-five million Nigerians were in food insecurity,” he said, referring to figures attributed to the IMF.

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Utomi further cited World Bank estimates indicating that about 139 million Nigerians could be living in poverty by the end of 2026.

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He said the economic crisis was also placing increasing pressure on Nigerians’ mental wellbeing and the country’s already strained healthcare system.

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Utomi said he had recently received numerous requests for financial assistance from people he previously considered members of the middle class.

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“I was beginning to think that I was being targeted because I received like a dozen or more desperate solicitations for money,” he said.

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He initially believed people might be approaching him because they knew he would share whatever resources he had.

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However, Utomi said he later discovered that many other Nigerians were receiving similar requests, suggesting that the problem was widespread.

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“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.

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Utomi said the situation showed how economic hardship was eroding dignity, with begging increasingly becoming normalised among Nigerians previously able to support themselves.

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“So Nigerians have now lost their dignity that the shame of begging is nothing but has become a trend,” he said.

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(NAN)

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