Tinubu’s Cancer Analogy Backfires as Nigerians Remind Him He Was in Power Since 2015

President Bola Tinubu’s attempt to paint himself as the leader who inherited a dying nation and is now nursing it back to health has been met with widespread ridicule, after a viral social media post reminded Nigerians that he has been part of the All Progressives Congress government since 2015 and cannot credibly blame past leaders for the country’s problems.

The controversy was sparked by a post on X by @TrafficChiefNG, which quoted Tinubu as saying: “By 2023, Nigeria was like a sick patient who received the terrible news that he has cancer. For too long, Nigeria’s leaders chose morphine while praying for a miracle that never came.” The post then added a sharp rejoinder: “Buhari said the same thing!!!! APC just came to blame past leaders since 2015 and making things worse. Let us kick them out and try another party. Na by force???”

The tweet captured the frustration of millions of Nigerians who have watched the APC recycle the same narrative for nearly a decade. When Muhammadu Buhari campaigned in 2015, he blamed the Peoples Democratic Party for destroying Nigeria. When Buhari took office, he blamed the PDP for the recession. When Buhari was leaving office in 2023, he blamed the PDP for the country’s economic woes. Now, Tinubu is doing exactly the same thing, framing himself as the doctor who arrived to save a patient abandoned by past leaders. But the man making this argument has been at the heart of the APC project from the very beginning.

By 2023, Nigeria was like a sick patient who received the terrible news that he has cancer…For too long, Nigeria's leaders chose morphine while praying for a miracle that never came.

– Bola Tinubu, President of Nigeria pic.twitter.com/jkiacT8XRv

— #LagosTrafficReports (@TrafficChiefNG) October 1, 2026

READ MORE: Declassified intelligence records reveal how Western networks leveraged NADECO activists to engineer Nigeria’s modern underdevelopment

Tinubu was a founding member of the APC and one of the architects of the coalition that brought Buhari to power in 2015. He served as a national leader of the party throughout Buhari’s eight years in office. He supported every policy of the Buhari administration, including the fuel subsidy regime he now criticises, the naira management he now claims to be fixing, and the security failures that have left Nigerians vulnerable. He cannot now present himself as an outsider who arrived in 2023 to clean up a mess he helped create.

The post also reminded Nigerians that Buhari used the same rhetoric. In 2015, Buhari said Nigeria was broke and broken. He promised to fix it. Eight years later, Nigeria was more indebted, more divided, and less secure than when he took over. The APC has now been in power for eleven years. It cannot keep blaming the PDP for problems it has had over a decade to solve.

The response to the post was swift and brutal. One user wrote: “In essence, he sacrificed Nigeria to become president cos he obviously orchestrated Buhari being elected into power.” Another said: “APC just came to blame past leaders since 2015 and making things worse.” The sentiment reflects a growing public consensus that the APC has run out of excuses. The party has controlled the federal government since 2015. It has appointed the heads of every major institution, set every budget, and implemented every policy. If Nigeria is still sick, the doctor has been in charge for eleven years.

Tinubu’s cancer analogy is not just politically tone-deaf. It is an admission of failure. A president who has been in power for nearly three years cannot credibly claim he inherited a country beyond repair. He can blame the PDP for what happened before 2015. He cannot blame the PDP for what has happened since. And the more he tries to shift blame, the more Nigerians remember that he was there all along, supporting the same government he now says was giving the patient morphine while praying for a miracle.

About The Author

West Africa Weekly

author

See author's posts