Legal practitioner and former Labour Party chieftain Kenneth Okonkwo has attributed the recent deadly stampedes at food distribution events in Nigeria to widespread hunger and desperation.
Scores of people lost their lives and others were injured during separate incidents in Anambra State and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on Saturday, prompting national mourning.
While President Bola Tinubu and others have blamed poor organization and indiscipline for the tragedies, Okonkwo said the root cause lies in the dire economic situation.
“This stampede happened in the east, the west, and the north. It’s now a general thing that Nigerians from all sectors are hungry and things are hard,” Okonkwo said during an appearance on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Tuesday.
He emphasized that the victims were not merely poor but were desperately hungry, struggling for survival.
“They know if they don’t have that food, they don’t have anything to fall back on. The worth of life in Tinubu’s government is now about N5,000 and a few grains of rice,” he lamented.
The incidents occurred just days before Tinubu, in his first presidential media chat, rated his administration’s performance as “excellent.”
He defended his controversial policies, including the removal of the fuel subsidy, which he argued were necessary for Nigeria’s recovery.
Okonkwo, however, criticized Tinubu’s assessment, calling it self-serving and out of touch.
“The worst statement the president made during his media chat is scoring himself ‘excellent,’” he said. “This government has done the worst job by any president since independence.”
The stampedes have reignited debate about the country’s worsening economic conditions, with many Nigerians calling for urgent measures to address hunger and poverty.