Tinubu: “I’ve lost sleep and weight too” defending economic reforms

President Bola Tinubu says he’s felt the pain of Nigeria’s economic reforms as much as citizens, admitting he’s lost sleep and weight since taking office.

Speaking Sunday at the Bola Ahmed Tinubu International Conference Centre in Abuja, Tinubu addressed APC leaders and supporters shortly after being declared winner of the party’s 2027 presidential primary.

“I know what it takes to reform this nation we met in tatters. If you lost sleep, I’ve lost some too. If you’ve lost weight, I’ve lost some too,” he said.

Tinubu argued the sweeping fiscal and economic changes were necessary to rescue a country he met “in bad shape.” He added that accepting the job in 2022 meant seeing it through: “So I must do it.”

The President formally accepted the APC ticket for 2027, thanking the party for renominating him. He won the direct primary with 10,999,162 votes to Stanley Osifo’s 16,503 votes. Voting took place across all 774 LGAs and 8,809 wards on Saturday.

Tinubu praised the process as peaceful and rancour-free, calling it proof of Nigeria’s maturing democracy.

“I was glued to the television after voting. I saw the mammoth crowd in Kano and Kaduna, the city boy walking the streets of Calabar. There was no bloodshed, no rancour. This is politics in earnest. This is where we want Nigeria, facing one focus,” he said.