Dalung Slams Tinubu's Independence Day Speech as Empty, Rhetorical
Former Minister of Youth and Sports Solomon Dalung called President Bola Tinubu’s 66th Independence Day speech “rhetorical, wishful, ambitious, but very, very disappointing and empty” during an appearance on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief earlier today. Dalung said the address should have highlighted concrete successes of the administration’s reforms over the past three and a half years, and tackled pressing issues like insecurity, agriculture, unemployment, hunger, poverty and foreign policy, rather than repeating the familiar call for patience.
He criticized Tinubu’s cancer‑patient analogy, arguing the president offered the same stories heard since 2023 and asked, “when shall the cancer victim recover? Because it does appear that the surgery has put him in a coma.” Dalung noted that despite claims of 4% economic growth, ordinary Nigerians feel no improvement in transport costs or purchasing power, and pointed out that Plateau State is effectively at war with daily attacks and mass burials, a topic the president ignored.
The former minister, an ADC chieftain and Plateau‑born, warned that growth statistics must translate into real‑world benefits for citizens. Will you demand that the government show how its reforms are lowering your expenses and improving security, or continue to accept promises of future gain?