Nollywood actor-turned-politician Kenneth Okonkwo has slammed President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration, accusing it of plunging Nigeria into unprecedented hardship and insecurity.
Speaking on News Central’s TV show, Breakfast Central on Tuesday, June 3, 2025, Okonkwo described the regime as a failure that offers Nigerians “nothing except destruction.”
“There’s no way anybody would be praising this government without appearing like a fool,” Okonkwo said, recalling Tinubu’s abrupt subsidy removal on inauguration day. “Fuel price rose from 195 Naira to 617 Naira in one swoop. And then they floated the Naira. And Naira depreciated going to almost N2,000 to a dollar from about N460.”
Okonkwo ridiculed the government’s repeated calls for patience while Nigerians endure economic pain. “Be patient first hundred days. Be patient six months. Be patient one year. Be patient two years, half of the journey. And they are still asking people to be patient,” he said.
Okonkwo condemned the state of security in the country, highlighting the persistent killings in Benue State and other regions.
“People are dying in Benue State, not because they committed any crime, but because Tinubu is their president that could not defend them,” he said, noting that Benue is an APC state governed by a reverend father.
“Spiritually, you say a reverend father is in charge. Politically, you say they are a member of Tinubu’s party. And yet they are dying every day from terrorists, from killer herdsmen, and no end in sight.”
He accused the government of weaponising security intelligence for political gain rather than citizen safety: “Tinubu’s proposed security reports… help him take the resources of Rivers State in the name of declaring state of emergency. But security reports to bring security to Nigerians, they will not give him.”
Turning to infrastructure and disaster preparedness, Okonkwo pointed to recent tragedies: “Look at what’s happening in Niger State. 200 persons just died and it is not a situation that is not foreseeable. These things happen every day.”
He rejected the idea that Tinubu should be excused for inheriting problems, asserting, “When people talk about Tinubu’s regime and say these problems were there before him… you are actually indicting him. Because what you’re trying to say is that this government… did not come with any solution.”
Okonkwo accused Tinubu of seeking power as a “life ambition” without the capacity to govern: “We are haemorrhaging. We are going into more deprivation, into more degradation, into more hunger, into more hardship, into the worst of mankind.”
Citing new data, Okonkwo lamented that “Nigeria has more malnourished children than Sudan,” describing it as evidence that “the failure of this government is moving even towards the next generation.”
He also slammed the government’s economic policies. “This same government has borrowed Nigeria into bondage more than any other government before it,” he said. “In December 2024, our debt profile reached 144 trillion naira. This government met only 77 trillion naira… They are now seeking to borrow 21.5 billion dollars.”
In closing, Okonkwo asserted: “This government has nothing to offer Nigerians except destruction, except wastages.”
