Veteran Nollywood actor and spokesperson for the Labour Party Presidential Campaign, Dr. Kenneth Okonkwo, has urged President Bola Tinubu to follow the example set by former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Liz Truss, and resign due to his perceived poor performance in office.
Barrister Okonkwo made the remarks during an exclusive interview with Rudolf Okonkwo on 90MinutesAfrica on Sunday.
“The former UK PM genuinely thought that her policies would be beneficial to the people, and when it didn’t work out that way, she threw in the towel after just 45 days in office,” the “Living in Bondage” star recalled.
“This government should consider throwing in the towel because they have failed. The only thing they can achieve is a further failure, and the people would become more hungry, more radical, more restless, and more revolutionary.”
The legal practitioner lampooned the government for the dire economic and security situation in the country. He said the removal of fuel subsidy and floating of the naira without adequate cushioning measures have thrown Nigerians into untold poverty.
“A lot of Nigerians have now resorted to looting warehouses and food trucks after they have exhausted their savings on fuel,” he reiterated.
“You have a government that is having a monopoly of force and yet cannot use that monopoly of force to defend the people. So what it means is that you’re tying the hands of the people on their backs and just allowing the bandits and terrorists to be hacking down and taking advantage of innocent people.
“And when they take them in, you would not bring money to get them out, rather you would start citing laws that it is illegal to pay money to bandits, and the families of the victims would be compelled, in this harsh economic atmosphere, to still run around to raise money to bring out their people.
“In these modern times, Nigerians are being bought and sold like slaves while they are burrowing in the forest like animals, and some people are still purporting to be in charge of the government.
“I’m sorry to say, but this is the greatest display of clownishness in power because you are seeing your people being dehumanized, degraded, and there is nothing you are doing about it,”
the media personality posited.
On whether his principal, Mr. Peter Obi, could have done anything differently if he had won the presidential election, Okonkwo said Obi’s antecedents are clear and that it is insulting to compare him to the crop of leaders running the country.
“You judge a man by his antecedents,” the actor said concerning Peter Obi. “Anambra was coming last in WAEC, but within two years of Peter Obi’s government, they started coming first.
“Before Peter Obi came in as governor, kidnappers were building their tents in Anambra State. But when he came, all the kidnappers, including Evans, ran away. Guess where Evans found refuge, in the state of the incumbent president! He doesn’t just know anything about security.
“Evans, who ran away from Anambra because of Obi’s security arrangement, lived among the elites in Lagos. Peter Obi is incomparable to any politician in Nigeria. I have always said it that Peter Obi is not an alternative option. He is the only option.”
The veteran actor also said that the governor of Abia State, Alex Otti, is doing very well and that such works should be replicated in all the states of the southeast. He said that the Labour Party is set to take over Anambra State as “99 out of every 100 people in Anambra State” don’t want Governor Soludo to have a second term.
“In fact, if it were in countries where they follow opinion polls, Soludo would not even bother to contest because he will just disgrace himself,” the actor said.
