Actor and politician Kenneth Okonkwo has given his assessment of President Bola Tinubu’s broadcast to Nigerians on Sunday, saying it was uninspiring.
Tinubu addressed the nation in his broadcast, urging protesters to return home as he had heard them. He also warned that security personnel will go after troublemakers taking advantage of the hunger protest.
The president was silent on the alleged shooting of protesters. The police have since debunked reports of shooting demonstrators.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Tuesday, Okonkwo said: “The people are protesting for hunger and hardship, deprivation and degradation. And the president was compelled to speak.
“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.”
Asked what was wrong with the speech, he said, “It was contradictory, inflammatory, annoying and disheartening.”
Okonkwo, former spokesman for the Labour Party presidential campaign council in 2023, also expressed disappointment with the Tinubu administration over the speech which was reportedly leaked the night before.
Nobel laureate Prof Wole Soyinka earlier criticised the speech, noting that the president’s silence on the maltreatment of protesters encourages impunity and could cause revolution.
