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Why competence without courage, integrity without participation, and criticism without constructive engagement cannot create the nation Nigerians want.
By Otunba (Dr.) Abdulfalil Abayomi Odunowo
Among many educated and accomplished Nigerians, one refrain is common: “Politics is a dirty game, and I do not want to be involved.” People say it in frustration, and at times with a certain pride, as though staying away is itself proof of integrity.
But that raises a more difficult question: what becomes of a country when people who believe they can offer responsible leadership consistently withdraw from the institutions that determine who leads?
Political institutions do not disappear simply because principled citizens choose not to take part. Elections still take place. Parties still select candidates. Legislatures still make laws. Governors and presidents still wield authority. The system keeps moving, whether or not those who think they can improve it decide to engage.
That is one of the deepest contradictions in Nigeria’s democratic experience. We lament the quality of leadership, yet distance ourselves from the very processes that produce it. We ask for accountability, yet often avoid the demanding work required to organise and enforce it. Opting out does not stop the consequences of governance. Decisions made in the political sphere affect everyone, including those who have never joined a party, backed a candidate, or voted.
The Vacuum That Never Stays Empty
Politics, like nature, does not tolerate a vacuum. When capable citizens step back, others move in. Some of them are competent and committed to the public good. Others are motivated mainly by personal gain, patronage, or access to state resources.
The issue is not a crude moral divide between virtuous outsiders and corrupt insiders. Nigeria has honest public officials and capable political actors, just as it has private citizens whose conduct would not survive serious ethical examination. The real risk emerges when the process of political recruitment becomes progressively detached from competence, integrity, and accountability.
Once advancement depends chiefly on money, personal loyalty, patronage networks, or control of party machinery, democracy begins to lose its ability to identify and elevate effective leaders. Leadership is not only about who eventually wins an election. It is also about who was permitted to compete, who could afford to participate, how candidates emerged, and whether citizens were given real alternatives. Better governance, therefore, begins long before election day within parties, civic groups, professional associations, communities, and the institutions that shape public opinion.
The Evidence of Disengagement
Nigeria’s electoral history provides clear evidence of what withdrawal costs. In the 2023 presidential election, INEC recorded 93.47 million registered voters. Only about 25.3 million were accredited, and roughly 24.97 million actually voted, producing a turnout of about 26.7 to 27.1 per cent, the lowest since the return to civilian rule in 1999.
That outcome continues a long downward trend: from a high of about 69 per cent in 2003, to 43.7 per cent in 2015, 34.7 per cent in 2019, and the record low in 2023. Logistical problems, insecurity, and administrative failures explain part of the shortfall, but the scale of disengagement still poses a basic democratic question: how representative can a mandate be when nearly three out of four registered voters do not show up?
Low turnout weakens legitimacy, reduces the pressure leaders face to remain accountable, and makes it easier for political space to be captured by those with money and organisational strength. A democracy that only asks citizens to vote, without earning their trust, risks remaining procedurally intact while becoming hollow in substance.
The Illusion of Moral Superiority
There is a difference between protecting one’s personal integrity and imagining that disengagement automatically creates moral superiority. Declining a party nomination or choosing independent advocacy can be entirely legitimate. But the wider claim that politics is beneath the concern of responsible citizens is much harder to justify.
Politics determines how public resources are allocated, how justice is administered, what quality of infrastructure exists, which priorities guide education and healthcare, and the economic conditions within which every profession and household functions. The engineer still depends on public roads. The doctor still sees the effects of weak public health systems. The entrepreneur still works within the regulatory and macroeconomic environment government creates. No parent can shield the next generation from the consequences of policies on education, security, and opportunity.
Stepping away may spare an individual certain controversies, but it cannot shield society from the accumulated effects of bad public decisions. The task is not to abandon principle in order to enter politics, but to make principle matter within public life.
Competence Is Necessary but Not Enough
Nigeria is not short of professional talent. It has engineers, economists, doctors, academics, entrepreneurs, lawyers, and administrators, both at home and in the diaspora. But professional achievement does not, by itself, produce effective political leadership. Public office demands judgement under pressure, skill in building consensus across competing interests, ethical discipline, institutional understanding, and humility about the limits of personal power.
Competence must be matched by accountability. Integrity must be proven when loyalties clash and temptations arise. Ambition must submit to public scrutiny. Nigeria does not simply need more professionals in politics; it needs institutions capable of recruiting, developing, and holding to account people who possess the full range of qualities responsible governance requires.
Why Capable People Stay Away and What Must Change
The structural barriers are real. Many are discouraged by high financial costs, opaque nomination procedures, factional struggles, reputational risks, and security threats. Young people, women, and citizens without wealthy sponsors face even greater hurdles. In many cases, party loyalty counts for more than independent judgement.
Courage by itself will not solve this problem. What is needed is institutional reform: greater transparency in party membership and nominations, real enforcement of campaign finance rules, credible electoral processes, and decisive measures against political violence and intimidation. Without these changes, calls for competent Nigerians to enter politics will remain largely inspirational rhetoric directed at people facing serious structural disadvantages.
An Ancient Lesson, a Modern Imperative
In ancient Athens, the word idiōtēs originally referred to a private individual someone set apart from public affairs, unlike those who carried civic responsibilities. Over time, the term took on negative connotations. In the Funeral Oration recorded by Thucydides, Pericles observed that those who took no part in public duties were regarded “not as unambitious but as useless.” In that political culture, participation was seen as a necessary part of citizenship.
Modern democracy, of course, must be far more inclusive than the limited Athenian model. Its legitimacy does not depend on every citizen seeking office or joining a party. But it does require that citizens are able to participate freely and meaningfully in the decisions that shape their lives, and that they see public affairs as a shared obligation rather than somebody else’s concern.
Participation Beyond Elective Office
One of the most harmful misunderstandings is the belief that political engagement means only contesting elections or joining parties. Democracy also relies on independent institutions and active citizens outside partisan structures.
Investigative journalists, lawyers defending constitutional rights, community organisers, academics assessing policy, business associations pushing for fair rules, and ordinary citizens who vote, track expenditure, question representatives, or take part in peaceful advocacy all perform essential democratic work. These roles are not lesser alternatives to elective office; they are indispensable parts of a functioning democratic society. Democracy becomes fragile when every institution is expected to serve partisan interests.
Integrity Under the Test of Power
It is comparatively easy to speak about integrity when one holds no public authority. The true test comes when personal interest, party pressure, or the demands of financiers collide with public duty. A political system improves not simply because new individuals with good intentions enter it, but when institutions enforce standards of conduct and those in power accept real accountability. Citizens should judge leaders by evidence: the decisions they make, the resources they manage, the laws they obey, and their measurable contribution to public welfare.
As 2027 Approaches
The 2027 general elections provide another chance to reflect on the relationship between citizens and political leadership. The central issues go beyond personal ambition or party advantage. They concern the quality of political competition, the credibility of institutions, and the ability of citizens to assess programmes, records, and financing plans rather than slogans, personalities, or ethnic calculations. Political parties must understand that public trust is not theirs by default. Citizens, in turn, must decide whether they will keep treating the country’s future as someone else’s responsibility.
A Responsibility That Cannot Be Fully Delegated
Nigeria’s democratic future cannot depend only on the goodwill of officeholders, nor can it be secured merely by replacing one set of personalities with another. It requires a sustained relationship between responsible leadership and responsible citizenship.
Those with the capacity and desire to seek office should have a fair chance to do so. Those who stay outside partisan politics should still contribute through advocacy, professional service, community organising, public scrutiny, and electoral participation.
Those already in office should be assessed by their constitutional duties and demonstrable results. Criticism of government must remain free, without requiring proof of partisan loyalty.
We do not all need to serve in the same way. Some will run for office. Others will defend rights, teach, organise, investigate, or hold power accountable. Every one of these roles helps sustain a society governed by law and answerable to its people.
The greatest danger is not that every good person refuses to become a politician. It is that too many citizens may come to believe that the future of their country is no longer their responsibility. Democracy cannot fulfil its promise once that belief becomes permanent. Nigeria’s future will be shaped not only by those who seek power, but also by those who insist that power be exercised responsibly. That duty belongs to all of us.
Otunba (Dr.) Abdulfalil Abayomi Odunowo
Public Affairs Commentator and Advocate for Democratic Accountability and Responsible Governance.
SB E-news Efficiency
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