President Bola Tinubu’s Independence Day speech has drawn harsh criticism from politician and Deputy Director-General, Media and Communications of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), Dele Momodu, who claims that the administration’s economic reforms have exacerbated the country’s problems into “stage four cancer.”
President Tinubu’s nationwide broadcast commemorating Nigeria’s Independence Anniversary prompted the criticism. The President compared the pre-2023 state of the nation to a sick patient in order to defend his aggressive economic policies. Tinubu asserted that while his administration decided to “excise the cancer” through challenging but essential reforms, earlier leaders relied on “morphine” to numb the symptoms of economic hardship.
“Dear Mr President, please, permit me to wish you Happy Independence on our 66th anniversary.
I will not waste too much time Sir.
I have just watched and listened to your speech on television and I must honestly say I wasn’t impressed. Today is supposed to be a day of celebration but your speech turned it into a day of lamentation.
My heart bled as you went into the morbid analogy of Nigeria as being a cancer patient that merely survived on pain killers before your arrival as a celebrated surgeon. You specifically mentioned MORPHINE as the drug of choice by your predecessors. I’m not sure this analogy was appropriate. At the time you assumed power, Nigeria probably had stage two cancer, at the worst. You were expected to stabilize it and not to metastasize it into a stage four cancer. Your first prescription on day one was a monumental disaster. You took no time to properly examine your patient. You were too much in a hurry to administer your jab which automatically sent Nigeria.
May God guide our leaders, strengthen the people, and help Nigeria overcome its challenges. May peace, progress, and hope return to the nation.
