‘After three years of treatment, why can’t you cure her?’ — Atiku slams President Tinubu for calling Nigeria cancer patient

Presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has criticised President Bola Tinubu over his description of Nigeria as a cancer patient, questioning why the country is still experiencing hardship after more than three years of his administration.

Atiku made the remarks during a world press conference in Abuja on Thursday, in response to Tinubu’s Independence Day address in which the President likened Nigeria’s economic situation in 2023 to a cancer patient requiring painful treatment.

Tinubu said his administration had chosen to “excise the cancer” through economic reforms, arguing that the measures were difficult but necessary to address longstanding problems in the economy. He also said the country had reached a turning point and was moving from an “age of reform” to an “age of prosperity.”

Reacting to the analogy, Atiku questioned why Nigerians were still finding it difficult to afford basic necessities such as food, medicine and transportation after three years of the administration’s reforms.

“Bola, you called Nigeria a patient with cancer. After three years of your treatment, why is it harder for Nigerians to buy food, pay for medicine, or even get to work?” Atiku asked.

He also questioned why government revenue could be increasing while many Nigerians were struggling with declining purchasing power.

“You said Nigerians must endure the pain because you are curing the disease, but when a patient cries out, a doctor listens,” he said.

Atiku argued that worsening living conditions should not be presented as evidence that the government’s economic policies were working.

“A patient who cannot afford to live is not proof that the treatment is working. Absolutely not,” he said.

The former vice-president also challenged Tinubu’s suggestion that the problems confronting Nigeria were inherited, noting that the All Progressives Congress (APC) had governed the country for several years before Tinubu assumed office in 2023.

“And you cannot speak as though you arrived from the moon in 2023. Your party had governed Nigeria for eight years, if not more,” Atiku said.

Tinubu, however, defended his administration’s record, saying the difficult phase of the reforms had passed and citing economic growth, falling inflation, rebuilt foreign reserves and increased non-oil exports as signs of improvement.

Atiku’s comments form part of his broader criticism of the Tinubu administration’s economic policies and their impact on Nigerians, particularly the cost of living and access to basic necessities.