Beyond the ballot box: A sovereign commission for democratic sustainability and national stability

Let me disclose from the onset and without hesitation that I am a supporter of Peter Obi and will definitely vote for him. But my support begins and ends with my political choice; it does not make Nigeria’s future dependent on one candidate’s victory. A candidate is temporary. Nigeria is not.

Without a doubt, others who will walk this path with me, who I will blaze this historic trail shoulder to shoulder with may be supporters of either President Bola Tinubu, or former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, or Governor Seyi Makinde, or former Governor Donald Duke, or Barrister Wole Adebayo or indeed another candidate.

But their support, like mine, will be quiet and without fanfare. What unites us is a shared patriotism and the belief that Nigeria’s survival must matter more than the fortunes of any politician.

I have spent much of my life in political activism and the defence of civil liberties, human rights and media freedom; a struggle that was very intense during the era of military despotism that defined much of the 1980s and 1990s.

I ended up becoming the founding National Secretary of the Alliance for Democracy (AD), a position that was unarguably a call for patriotic duty and sacrifice. My accumulated political experience has taught me that elections can change governments, but they cannot, by themselves, build trust or guarantee stability.

Let me readily confess that I enjoy theory, abstract thought and the intellectual density that sometimes makes a writer feel clever while leaving the reader wondering what exactly he is saying.

On this occasion, however, I have deliberately chosen another road. I want to write plainly. I want the market woman, the professor, the mechanic, the civil servant, the student, the politician and the retired soldier to understand the argument.

The issue before us is too important to be buried beneath impressive grammar. The question is not simply who wins in the Presidential election in 2027. It is what becomes of the nation the day after. Nigerians need a clear agreement among presidential candidates, the leadership of all the political parties and key civic institutions that ensures that electoral competition does not become a national crisis.

I propose a Sovereign Commission for Democratic Sustainability and National Stability, built around commitments that every presidential candidate and all the parties should make before the election, as a path the nation has to adopt to overcome the hyper partisan, heavily charged and intensely combustible political atmosphere already upon us and which will intensify and accelerate as the elections approach.

The Proposal Nigerians Should Judge This Commission must not be another committee of former officeholders or political elders issuing communiqués that gather dust. It should be a compact, practical forum driven by the people who seek the mandate to govern.

Its core membership should comprise a sitting President seeking re election, all the presidential candidates of any specific election cycle, the National Leaders and National Chairmen of the competing political parties, the Presidents of the Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress, the President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, and the President of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, alongside other clearly defined representatives of civil society. Former holders of public office should not sit on it by virtue of some of them being already members of the National Council State.

The first task before the nation is to ask all the presidential candidates and the parties that sponsored them to make the following public commitments before Nigerians vote: 1. Serve on the Commission: Every presidential candidate, including (President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi, Seyi Makinde, Donald Duke, Wole Adebayo and others ) should commit to participate, whether they win or lose. Participation must not depend on political convenience or the outcome of the election. It only derives from one’s status as a Presidential Candidate. Period.

1. Convene the Commission after the election: The Commission will be convened by an incoming first-term President or an incumbent President, who wins a second term. The duty to convene it must attach to those contesting for the office of President.
2. Form an Inclusive Government for a fixed period: Each candidate should commit, if elected, to an inclusive Government of National Unity for a specified period, typically 18 months. The arrangement should be time-bound, transparent and based on competence and agreed national priorities, not a bargain to silence opposition. Parties outside government must retain their full right to criticize and hold the government accountable.
3. Fund Parties that Meet Clear Thresholds: Each candidate and the sponsoring political parties should pledge to introduce a bill in the National Assembly providing public grants to political parties that meet defined thresholds, such as securing at least five per cent of the national vote or attaining a specified level of representation in the National Assembly or state assemblies. The law should establish transparent eligibility rules, independent auditing, disclosure requirements and sanctions for abuse.
4. End Winner Takes -It -All Politics: Each candidate and the sponsoring parties should commit to proposing legislation that explores replacing the current winner-takes all approach with a system in which eligible parties receive a defined share of executive representation proportionate to their share of the vote. The design must protect effective government, constitutional accountability and the electorate’s ability to identify who is responsible for policy outcomes.
5. Open a National Dialogue on Nigeria’s Democratic Model: Each candidate and the sponsoring parties should commit to initiating a national dialogue on rethinking liberal democracy and the presidential system, including whether Nigeria can develop a more Afrocentric democratic model that takes its indigenous knowledge systems, histories and civilizational markers seriously. This must be an open constitutional conversation, not a pretext to weaken rights, elections or democratic freedoms.
6. Restore High-Level Channels for Inter-Party and Civic Engagements: Each candidate should commit to reviving the separate Offices of Inter-Party Matters and Civil Society Relations, each led by a Special Adviser with cabinet-level standing and direct access to the President. Their purpose should be to maintain communication, detect grievances early and build practical cooperation without turning either office into an arm of the ruling party. Public Funding Can Strengthen Pluralism Public support for political parties is not an idea Nigeria has to invent from scratch. Finland, South Africa, Germany, Sweden, Namibia, Malawi, Kenya and Tanzania provide varying forms of financial support to political parties under rules that may take account of electoral performance and parliamentary representation.

Their systems differ, and Nigeria should study them carefully rather than copy any model wholesale. A transparent grant system could reduce parties’ dependence on wealthy patrons, encourage stronger organisation and help credible opposition parties survive between elections. But public money must come with strict disclosure, independent audits and penalties for false reporting.

Support should be based on published criteria, not the goodwill of the party in power. What the Commission Should and Should Not Do The Sovereign Commission should coordinate post-election dialogue, monitor the commitments candidates make, identify threats to democratic legitimacy and publish practical recommendations.

It should help parties and civic groups resolve political tensions before they escalate. It is not designed to weaken the Independent National Electoral Commission, the courts, the National Assembly or security agencies, and it has no practical role in the legal resolution of electoral disputes. Nor should the Commission become a patronage platform. Inclusion is not the same as co-optation. Opposition parties must be able to contribute ideas and participate in national problem-solving without surrendering their right to oppose the government. A voter who supported the losing candidate does not become less Nigerian when the results are announced.

The Commission should work on clear deadlines.

Within 72 hours of the declaration of results, all the Presidential candidates should jointly urge calm and direct disputes through lawful channels.

Within 30 days, the Commission should convene its first meeting, register outstanding concerns and agree on a framework against political retaliation. Within 100 days, it should publish recommendations and require a public response from the sitting President or an incoming one both of who are members of the Commission. Progress on pending matters should be reported openly.

Stability is Not Silence

A stable country is not one in which citizens are afraid to speak. It is one in which they can disagree without violence; journalists can investigate without intimidation; courts can decide without political pressure; and peaceful protest is not treated as treason. Political disputes must be managed through law and dialogue, not threats or repression.

Nigeria must also confront the incentives that make every presidential election feel like a fight for survival. Excessive concentration of resources and power at the centre makes control of the Presidency the ultimate prize. Strengthening the federating units and subnational institutions would spread opportunity and reduce the pressure to capture Abuja at all costs. The Commission can encourage this conversation, but constitutional and fiscal reforms will require action by the institutions empowered to enact them.

A Covenant That Outlasts The Election

The Commission will matter only if candidates make these commitments publicly before the election and citizens hold them to their word afterwards. The proposals are concrete: serve on the Commission; convene it after the election; pursue time-limited inclusive government; legislate transparent public grants for qualifying parties; reform winner-takes-all executive politics; begin a national dialogue on Nigeria’s democratic model; and restore high-level offices for inter-party and civil society relations.

These measures will not eliminate political rivalry. Nor should they. Democracy needs competition, criticism and the possibility of changing those who govern. The aim is to ensure that rivalry does not become a license to wreck institutions or exclude millions of citizens from the national conversation.

My generation has seen military rule, democratic transitions and the rise and decline of political parties. We have learned that no individual is indispensable. Nigeria is. We must leave our children a country in which winning an election brings responsibility, losing one does not mean political extinction, and every citizen remains part of the Republic. The Democratic Turn Nigeria Must Take.

This is, for now, a mere declaration of intent. The Blueprint I have developed is a substantive technical document that articulates the core ideas, strategic framework and practical pathways for achieving this vision. In less than no time, it will be widely disseminated to stimulate informed debate and galvanize collective action. I have already initiated quiet consultations with a broad spectrum of patriotic Nigerians from diverse backgrounds and spheres of life who recognize the historic significance of this initiative and are keen to lend their support.

My conviction is that, in an increasingly polarised and politically charged environment, where electoral contests are inexorably degenerating into a zero sum game planked on do or die battles, we must urgently create a credible framework for preserving national stability, safeguarding our democratic institutions and ensuring that the pursuit of political power does not come at the expense of our collective national interest.

Nigeria’s democracy must move beyond periodic elections and the dominance of established political parties to create genuine opportunities for alternative ideological movements to influence public policy and national decision -making. We must work towards the construction of a national political geography not of ethnicities but of ideological persuasions whether in the hands of the drivers of social democracy, Marxist and Neo Marxist political philosophies and other contextually relevant models, capable of translating their ideas into practical policy alternatives.

Through structured dialogue, policy consultations and recommendations for institutional reform, a national opportunity will be engendered that could help bridge the gap between marginalised ideological forces and mainstream governance. The objective is not framed in the trajectory of just re-thinking or weakening liberal democracy as an end in itself but to substantively strengthen the procreative capacities of Nigerians in the domain of ideas generation by ensuring that political participation extends beyond electoral competition to meaningful influence over how the country is governed.

The Final Choice: Country Before Party, Stability Before Division Let Nigerians vote freely and campaign fiercely. Let the courts resolve legitimate disputes. More importantly, let every presidential candidate make an unequivocal commitment now: will you help build a democracy that belongs to the whole country, or preserve a system in which every election threatens to divide it?

The Sovereign Commission for Democratic Sustainability and National Stability offers a practical starting point. Its success will depend on the candidates’ willingness to commit, the public’s insistence on accountability and the courage to place country above party. Elections may determine who governs, but only our collective commitment to the national interest can determine whether Nigeria endures and thrives.

Professor Udenta O. Udenta was the founding National Secretary of the Alliance for Democracy (AD).