ADC Chieftain Okonkwo Rejects Tinubu’s ‘Cancer’ Analogy, Says APC Is Source Of Nigeria’s Problems | Sahara Reporters

Okonkwo then listed what he described as worsening economic and social conditions under Tinubu, comparing key indicators at the beginning of the administration with their current levels.

Actor-turned-politician and former Labour Party presidential campaign spokesperson, Kenneth Okonkwo, has sharply criticised President Bola Tinubu’s 66th Independence Day address, rejecting the President’s description of Nigeria as a “sick patient” diagnosed with cancer.

Tinubu, in his Independence Day address on Thursday, said Nigeria was like a sick patient who had received the news that it had cancer, arguing that his administration had chosen painful economic reforms to treat longstanding structural problems.

The President said his government had “chosen to excise the cancer,” while defending the removal of fuel subsidy and other economic reforms implemented since he assumed office in May 2023.

According to Tinubu, the reforms have produced improved economic indicators, including economic growth of more than four per cent in 2026, declining inflation from its peak, increased foreign reserves and greater stability in the foreign exchange market. He also declared that Nigeria had moved from an “age of reform” into an “age of prosperity.”

Reacting to the address, Okonkwo rejected Tinubu’s cancer analogy, saying Nigeria itself was not the problem but that, in his view, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has become the source of the country’s problems.

“God forbid! With respect to President Tinubu, Nigeria is a blessed country that has no cancer,” Okonkwo said.

“According to Wike, it is the All Progressives Congress (APC) that has cancer, and Tinubu’s leadership style has made the cancer to metastasise.”

Okonkwo then listed what he described as worsening economic and social conditions under Tinubu, comparing key indicators at the beginning of the administration with their current levels.

He noted that Tinubu inherited petrol prices of about N195 per litre but that the price had risen to about N1,500 per litre under his administration.

He also recalled that the naira traded at about N450 to the US dollar when Tinubu assumed office but had fallen to about N1,400 to the dollar.

On public debt, Okonkwo noted that Tinubu inherited total debt of about N77 trillion but that the figure had risen to N166.6 trillion under his administration, while accusing the government of continuing to borrow.

Okonkwo further criticised the Tinubu administration over insecurity, transportation, food prices, electricity, employment, poverty, infrastructure, rule of law and human rights.

“Insecurity is at its worst under Tinubu,” he said, adding that the President had been outside Nigeria “more than 290 days and about 52 times in just about three and a half years.”

He also said, “Transportation and food costs are horrible, electricity and employment are absent, poverty is ravaging, roads are deplorable, rule of law and human rights trampled on. No microeconomic index is good.”

Tinubu, however, presented a markedly different assessment of the country in his Independence Day speech, saying his administration has corrected Nigeria’s economic direction after inheriting structural weaknesses.

The President argued that the reforms had not created the country’s economic problems but were designed to confront them.

“Our reforms did not create the weaknesses in our economy. They confronted them,” Tinubu said.

He also rejected calls for a return to fuel subsidy, describing such demands as a “siren song” and saying Nigeria should not return to what he called the abuse of subsidies.

But Okonkwo, who is now a chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), argued that Nigerians need a change of political direction ahead of the 2027 presidential election.

He called on Nigerians to “democratically cut out Tinubu and APC’s cancerous leadership style” by voting against the ruling party in the January 16, 2027 presidential election.

Okonkwo specifically endorsed ADC presidential candidate and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, urging Nigerians to vote for him to “rescue Nigeria from its inevitable cancerous demise under Tinubu’s watch.”

He also advocated the introduction of a refined petroleum production subsidy as a means of reducing the cost of living, arguing that the policy would make life more affordable for Nigerians.

Okonkwo described himself as an “incurable optimist”, saying Nigeria remained blessed at 66.