Resign to run: The principled path to 2027
Anthony EKPO BASSEY
It will not come as a surprise to political pundits, if the months ahead will likely witness commissioners, advisers, special assistants, and sundry senior officials stepping aside with solemn speeches about service and sacrifice. Cynics will scoff. Supporters will celebrate. But beneath the spectacle lies a simple, sturdy truth: you cannot fairly referee a match in which you are secretly a striker. Public resources must not become campaign reservoirs. Official platforms must not morph into partisan pulpits. The firewall between governance and campaigning must be firm, visible, and vigilantly maintained.
It is important to state that resignation, in this restless republic of rising aspirations, is not retreat. It is respect. It is the principled passage from appointed authority to electoral accountability. Those who seek the sacred sanction of the people must first surrender the seductive security of their seats. To cling to office while courting voters is to practice a troubling duality, one foot in governance, the other in grandstanding. Such political split-mindedness breeds blurred boundaries and breeds suspicion.
In Cross River State in particular, and Nigeria as a whole, a season of swift departures and bold declarations is dawning. In hushed hallways and behind polished podiums, ambitious appointees are already weighing the gravity of goodbye. The whispers will soon swell into statements and the careful calculations will crystallise into clear-cut resignations. Before the ballots of 2027 beckon, a parade of public office holders will politely, perhaps even proudly, place their letters of resignation on the table and pivot toward partisan platforms. And they should.
History has shown that the temptation to test the waters while tethered to office is tantalising. Motorcades morph into mobile campaigns. Policy pronouncements subtly shift into stump speeches. State-funded visibility becomes a surrogate for party visibility. Such slippery overlaps corrode confidence and compromise credibility. When ambition accelerates, ethics must anchor.
Therefore, when the coming cascade of resignations arrives, and arrive it will, it deserves applause, not alarm. It signals seriousness. It suggests sincerity. It speaks of candidates confident enough to compete without the cushion of incumbency’s instruments. The electorate should reward that resolve.
Conversely, voters must cast a cautious, critical eye on any office occupant who continues to warm a publicly funded chair while warming up a campaign crowd. Aspirations announced without accompanying abdications should arouse alertness. If an individual truly trusts the people, they should trust the people enough to meet them as a citizen-candidate, not as an office-empowered aspirant.
Between now and 2027, the political landscape will shimmer with slogans and shimmer with strategy. Yet amid the noise, one measure of merit remains magnificently clear: step down before you step up. Relinquish before you run. Vacate before you vie. That sequence safeguards fairness, fortifies faith, and frames a future where leadership is earned, not engineered.
In the end, resignation is not a sign of weakness. Rather, it is a declaration of democratic discipline. And in a climate craving credibility, that discipline may be the most compelling campaign message of all.
