Post by SkillsWorkshop (@Skills_Workshop)

The All Progressives Congress: Nigeria’s Party of Affliction

The All Progressives Congress (APC) stormed onto the Nigerian political scene in 2013, promising “change” from the rot of the People’s Democratic Party. With a manifesto dripping in righteous indignation against corruption, insecurity, and economic mismanagement, it rode a wave of public frustration to victory in 2015. Muhammadu Buhari became president, vowing to crush Boko Haram in weeks, eliminate graft, and deliver prosperity. Bola Tinubu followed in 2023 with his “Renewed Hope” slogan. Over a decade later, the APC stands exposed not as a party of progress, but as the undisputed Party of Affliction — a political machine that has systematically deepened Nigeria’s misery while enriching itself and its cronies.

Economic Devastation and Mass Impoverishment

Under APC rule, Nigeria’s economy has been a masterclass in policy failure and elite indifference. Buhari’s tenure delivered a 2016 recession and stagnant growth. Tinubu’s so-called reforms — fuel subsidy removal and exchange rate unification — were sold as bitter pills for long-term gain. Instead, they unleashed pure torment:

• Inflation skyrocketed, hitting over 33% with food inflation exceeding 40% at peaks. Ordinary Nigerians now battle prices that make basic staples like rice, beans, and garri luxuries.

• The naira collapsed, pulverizing purchasing power and driving up the cost of everything imported or fuel-dependent.

• Poverty exploded. Estimates show the rate climbing from around 40% to 56–63% of the population, pushing tens of millions more into destitution. Over 60% now live below the poverty line, with acute hunger threatening millions amid conflict and climate stresses.
GDP per capita has declined in real terms for much of this era. Unemployment, underemployment, and collapsing small businesses define daily life. While the government touts foreign reserves, stock market gains, or future projections, the streets tell a different story: mass emigration (“Japa”), labor unrest, and families skipping meals. This is not “reform pain” — it is engineered affliction, where short-term shocks met long-term incompetence, leaving the masses to bear the brunt while elites fly private jets and award contracts to allies.

Security Catastrophe

The APC came to power promising security. What it delivered was proliferation of terror. Boko Haram was to be defeated swiftly; instead, it metastasized. Banditry, farmer-herder clashes, kidnappings for ransom, and separatist violence spread like wildfire across the North West, North East, and beyond. Schools closed, farmers abandoned fields, and communities lived in perpetual fear. Under Tinubu, insecurity has reportedly deepened further, with more Nigerians pushed into poverty and displacement by violence.

Government responses — military operations and press statements — ring hollow against the daily abductions, mass killings, and destroyed livelihoods. The party’s tenure has coincided with Nigeria becoming one of the world’s kidnapping capitals, where even the wealthy pay levies to bandits. This is governance by failure: promises betrayed, citizens abandoned to affliction.

Corruption, Hypocrisy, and Institutional Capture

The APC’s anti-corruption crusade was always selective theater. High-profile cases targeted opponents while allies enjoyed impunity. Godfatherism, internal factions, and brazen defense of corrupt figures define the party. Public trust has evaporated as scandals persist amid grinding poverty. Defections, rigging allegations, and political maneuvering take precedence over governance.

The party’s defenders boast of infrastructure or diplomatic wins, but these pale against the human cost. Debt has ballooned, oil production struggles, and diversification remains a slogan. The gap between elite propaganda and citizens’ reality — hunger, darkness, joblessness — fuels the “Party of Affliction” label that echoes across streets and social media.

The Damning Verdict

Nigeria’s challenges predate the APC — oil dependence, population boom, elite rot — but the party did not mitigate them; it amplified them. From 2015 to the present, under Buhari’s inertia and Tinubu’s disruptive experiments, the APC has presided over declining living standards, worsening insecurity, and eroded hope. What began as “change” devolved into continuity of failure, wrapped in fresh rhetoric and ruthless power retention.

This is the legacy of the All Progressives Congress: a party that afflicted a nation already on its knees. For millions, the APC era means more pain, less dignity, and shattered futures. Until tangible results — affordable food, safe communities, real jobs — replace excuses and propaganda, the label will stick: the Party of Affliction. Nigeria deserves far better than this decade-plus experiment in disappointment.

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