Kenneth Okonkwo, spokesman for African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, has criticised President Bola Tinubu’s 66th Independence Day address and rejected the president’s 2023 description of Nigeria as a “sick patient” diagnosed with cancer.
In the broadcast on Thursday, Tinubu compared Nigeria’s situation in 2023 to that of a patient with cancer and said his administration had embarked on difficult reforms to tackle the country’s problems.
Reacting in a post on X on Thursday, Okonkwo said Nigeria is a blessed country and not one suffering from cancer. He blamed the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Tinubu’s leadership for the country’s malaise.
“God forbid! With respect to President Tinubu, Nigeria is a blessed country that has no cancer,” Okonkwo wrote. “According to Wike, it is the All Progressives Congress (APC) that has cancer, and Tinubu’s leadership style has made the cancer metastasise.
“Tinubu met fuel at N195, but it has metastasised to N1,500. He met the naira at about N450 to the dollar, but it has metastasised to about N1,400 per dollar. He met about N77 trillion total debt, but it has metastasised to N166.6 trillion, and he is still borrowing. Insecurity is at its worst under Tinubu.
“He has been away from Nigeria more than 290 days and about 52 times in just about three and a half years. Transportation and food costs are horrible, electricity and employment are absent, poverty is ravaging, roads are deplorable, and the rule of law and human rights have been trampled. No microeconomic index is good.”
Okonkwo urged Nigerians to “democratically cut out Tinubu and APC’s cancerous leadership style” by voting them out on January 16, 2027, and to elect Atiku Abubakar of the ADC, the Coalition Party, whom he said would make life more affordable through measures such as the introduction of a refined petroleum production subsidy.
