Party Politics and National Integration in Nigeria: An Appraisal of All Progressive Congress 2019-2023

Abstract

This study examined party politics and national integration in Nigeria: an appraisal of All Progressive Congress (APC). It conceptualized political parties and national integration. The study raised two objectives namely: Ascertain how All Progressive Congress (APC) politics has promoted national integration in Nigeria between 2015 and 2023. Determine how All Progressive Congress (APC) politics has undermined national integration in Nigeria. Systems theory was used as the theory for the study. Ex-post facto design was used. Data used for the study were derived through secondary sources. Thematic content analysis was used to analyze the data. The findings of the study show that APC has made some contributions towards national integration in Nigeria. The finding of the study also shows that these efforts have their challenges which militated against them in the realization of their objectives. While the efforts were intended to achieve national integration, solidarity and unity, it ended up creating disunity among the people, and marginalization of one section by the other thereby leading to intense struggle for power between and or among people from different ethnic groups. The study concluded that due to the nature of party politics, APC as a political party has not been able to live up to expectation as a veritable instrument for national integration. Secondly, some of the party leaders are more powerful than the political party itself and as such their selfish personal interest overrides the interest of the party and the nation as the case may be. The study recommended that political parties must run issue-based campaigns devoid of hate speech or disinformation to restore their integrity in the eyes of citizens. Once elected and/ or appointed to political office, party members must follow through on the promises made during the campaign period. Also, political parties must be held accountable for their abuses of the system and failure to represent the interests of the Nigerian people. Keywords: Political Party, Party Politics, National Integration