Broom or Jail: All Progressive Congress (APC) and the Anti-Corruption Campaign, 2015-2024

Abstract

Over two decades since the return to civil rule in 1999, the Nigerian state has continued to struggle to reduce, if not completely, eradicated the growing incidences of corruption but to no avail. Its persistence has negatively impacted on economic growth and tends to undermine public trust. The All Progressive Congress (APC) came to power in 2015 on the mantra that its presidential flag bearer was incorruptible hence his readiness to stamp corruption out of Nigeria. However, selectivity in the fight against corruption tends to have dampened every iota of hope that APC can end corruption in Nigeria. The study adopted a mixed-methods approach consisting of in-depth interviews and surveys questionnaire to provide a comprehensive analysis of the APC's anticorruption efforts. Data was collected from 12 states and the FCT using purposive method. In-depth interviews were conducted with 26 participants, including politicians and civil society organization members, while a survey of 260 respondents were used to gather quantitative data. Data was analyzed using SPSS and STATA, with descriptive statistics addressing the research questions. Finding shows 61.92% full acceptance that the APC government’s anticorruption drive lacked transparency and 54.31% of the respondents agreed that the crusade was selective. This study therefore concluded that the APC’s anticorruption campaign has failed to address systemic corruption as a result of selective execution of anti-corruption war that mainly seeks to witch-hunt political opponents. The corruption crusade retarded economic growth and has continuously presented a bad image about the country. The paper recommended transparency in the anticorruption fight, establishing due process units in government and strengthening the legal and institutional framework of anticorruption to ensure positive outcomes in the anti-corruption war.