In every thriving democracy, citizens are not spectators; they are referees. Through periodic evaluation, they determine whether those in power still represent their collective will. In the United States, this mechanism is institutionalized through what is known as the midterm election—a democratic audit held halfway through a president’s four-year term.
It is a civic device that forces accountability, moderates excesses, and recalibrates the national direction. Little wonder that information sharing with citizens exceeds propaganda trading, and coup scares are alien to their polity. Members of the military there are, first of all, citizens—empowered through a democratic process to put a check on their government.
Nigeria’s democracy, in contrast, lacks such internal circuitry of self-correction. Here, power—once won—is often absolute for four unbroken years, sometimes eight. The people’s voice is muffled by executive dominance, opposition weakness, and a corruption-fed defection culture that drains ideological content from politics. The result was what we saw under Muhammadu Buhari: eight years of despair disguised as patience, when citizens prayed instead of acting, while governance drifted into dysfunction.
The American Model of Midterm Accountability
In the United States, midterm elections are more than votes—they are referendums on the president’s performance. Two years after a presidential election, all 435 members of the House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate seats are contested. The people decide whether to strengthen or weaken the president’s hand in Congress.
This ensures that no president governs unchecked. When the public disapproves of policies, they shift power to the opposition; when they approve, they reinforce the mandate. It is democracy in action—swift, structured, and consequential.
How Midterm Elections Shaped U.S. Presidencies
History offers compelling lessons.
Bill Clinton (1994): Two years into his presidency, Clinton’s Democratic Party lost both chambers of Congress for the first time in four decades. That political earthquake forced him to abandon certain liberal ambitions and embrace a centrist “triangulation” strategy. The shock arguably saved his presidency, steering it toward economic discipline and bipartisan reform.
Barack Obama (2010): His “Hope and Change” wave hit resistance when Democrats lost the House to the Tea Party revolt. Rather than collapse, Obama recalibrated—deploying executive powers creatively, consolidating healthcare reform, and achieving foreign policy milestones like the Iran nuclear deal.
Donald Trump (2018): The Republican loss of the House constrained his polarizing domestic agenda and triggered oversight that exposed the limits of presidential excess.
Joe Biden (2022): Against all odds, Democrats held the Senate and narrowly lost the House, signaling public confidence in his leadership despite inflation anxieties. That result empowered him to sustain bipartisan infrastructure and industrial investment bills.
In each case, the midterm acted as a democratic speed bump—slowing recklessness, correcting direction, and reaffirming that government belongs to the governed.
Nigeria’s Missing Midterm Moment
Imagine if Nigeria had such a constitutional midterm election or structured citizen audit. Muhammadu Buhari’s presidency might not have drifted so far into insecurity, economic collapse, and policy inertia. Citizens, through midterm accountability, would have had a legal platform to reaffirm trust or register disapproval—forcing the president to adjust course.
Take terrorism, for instance: if citizens could have directly expressed disapproval of the government’s failure to secure lives and property halfway through the first term, perhaps the North-East crisis would not have become a permanent scar. A poor midterm rating for the ruling party would have compelled reform in military leadership, more transparent defense spending, and bipartisan cooperation.
Instead, Nigerians endured eight years of insecurity under a system that rewards silence with suffering.
Defection Politics and the Death of Opposition
The absence of midterm accountability explains Nigeria’s shameful culture of political defection. Politicians cross from opposition to the ruling party not because of conviction, but because power is unchallengeable between elections. When a president controls everything—from budget to police to party machinery—politics becomes survival, not service.
Opposition is not just weak; it is castrated by corruption and intimidation. Without institutional mechanisms to check power, loyalty becomes transactional. In America, parties can lose midterms yet rebuild for the next presidential race because the system allows renewal. In Nigeria, the ruling party behaves like a monarchy until another general election triggers a desperate, all-or-nothing contest.
The result is anxiety, not accountability.
Citizens’ Governance Impact Assessment (CGIA): Nigeria’s Substitute
Until Nigeria reforms its constitution to institutionalize midterm reviews, Citizens’ Governance Impact Assessment (CGIA) must fill the gap.
CGIA is a civic innovation—an organized evaluation where citizens collectively rate the government’s performance halfway into its tenure. It is not a protest but a democratic performance audit. It is voluntary, non-partisan, and citizen-led.
By signing up for CGIA, Nigerians reclaim their civic agency, reminding leaders that legitimacy is not a four-year lease but a renewable trust.
CGIA can become a barometer for international observers and development partners to gauge Nigeria’s democratic temperature. If conducted transparently, it can shape public opinion, influence policy decisions, and guide future elections.
This is democracy at work between elections—the missing pulse in Nigeria’s democratic heartbeat.
Why This Matters Now
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration stands at a defining crossroads. His political history and democratic credentials suggest that he should welcome civic feedback. A true democrat listens.
If he embraces CGIA, it could strengthen his legacy as a leader who respects the people’s voice. But if he ignores it, we will know how much of the democrat is left in the president.
Nigeria cannot afford another cycle of helpless waiting. Democracy is not just about elections—it is about accountability between elections. Citizens’ silence has too often been mistaken for consent.
CGIA offers a peaceful, organized, and patriotic platform to speak up—to remind those in power that the people are not subjects but shareholders in the Republic.
From Prayer to Participation
During Buhari’s era, Nigerians prayed while power decayed. But faith without civic action is fatal to democracy. God answers the prayers of citizens who take responsibility.
The CGIA is that responsibility—a call to move from the pews to the polls of public evaluation, to make every Nigerian an active participant in shaping the nation’s direction. Through CGIA, we can assess government performance in the economy, security, justice, and governance—issuing a scorecard that tells truth to power.
This is not rebellion. It is reformation through responsibility.
Conclusion: Reclaiming the People’s Power
Midterm elections in the U.S. remind presidents that power is temporary and conditional. Nigeria must build similar institutions of renewal to save our Presidents from sycophantic deception and our Legislature from reckless abandonment of the people’s mandate to join the party in power. Until that reform comes, Citizens’ Governance Impact Assessment (CGIA) stands as the people’s instrument of conscience—a civic referendum to check the system’s drift and restore the soul of democracy.
Let us no longer wait for 2027 to be heard. The time to speak is now.
Sign up. Participate. Rate your government.
The president, like every other citizen, must be reminded that democracy is a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. It is more about us than about our politicians.
Let’s do the needful!
👉 www.pvc-naija.com.ng/wevote
Click the link above to see what is coming and how to be part of it.
For sponsorship, call Amanda: +234 803 380 2449.
I remain your steward in the quest for a better and greater Nigeria.
Citizen Bolaji O. Akinyemi
BoT Chairman, Project Victory Call Initiative (PVC-Naija)
Apostle & Nation Builder
📞 +234 803 304 1236
