‘Your Speech On Protest Very Annoying, Return Fuel Subsidy’ – Okonkwo Tells President Tinubu

Nollywood actor cum politician, Kenneth Okonkwo, has criticized President Bola Tinubu’s Sunday broadcast to Nigerians on the #EndBadGovernance nationwide protests, describing it as boring and annoying.

Recall that President Tinubu addressed Nigerians on Sunday following the events of demonstrations across states over the increasing cost of commodities and hardship in the country.

However, Okonkwo, a former spokesman for the Labour Party Presidential Campaign Council in 2023, said it would have been better if the President did not make such address, which according to him, is ‘bad’.

He also advised Tinubu to sack his media aides for letting his speech leak out a day before the nationwide broadcast.

“The people are protesting for hunger and hardship, deprivation and degradation. And the president was compelled to speak,” Okonkwo said on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Tuesday.

He added: “I wish they did not compel him. If I were a media aide, I would have preferred there was no speech at all because bad speech is worse than no speech at all.

“In addition to the speech being empty and very annoying, it was even leaked before the day.”

Okonkwo asserted that President Tinubu failed to address any of the protesters’ demands. He emphasized the importance of protest in a democratic society while denouncing the violent actions of a minority.

He argued that the President ought to have streamlined his cabinet and reconsidered the decision to acquire a new presidential jet.

Reinstate Fuel Subsidy

Okonkwo contended that rather than removing the petrol subsidy and replacing it with inadequate palliatives, the government should reinstate subsidies on petrol and electricity tariffs, as he believes that “subsidy itself is a palliative.”

He further stated that the current administration has diminished the standard of living for Nigerians and should focus on enhancing productivity by fostering a conducive business environment.

Naija News reports that aside from Okonkwo, notable figures such as Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka, Femi Falana (SAN) and political parties like the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party (LP) have also criticized the President’s address.