APC Crisis: Kenyan President Fires Back at Tinubu, Says Nigerian English Is Incomprehensible
By: Abudu Olalekan
Kenyan President William Ruto has hit back at President Bola Ahmed Tinubu—this time over language, not policy. Speaking to Kenyans living in Italy on Monday, Ruto made a blunt claim: Nigerian-accented English can be hard to understand, and sometimes you need a translator just to follow what’s being said.
He didn’t mince words.
“Our education is good. Our English is good. We speak some of the best English in the world,” Ruto told the audience, drawing a few laughs. “If you listen to a Nigerian speaking, you don’t know what they are saying. You need a translator even when they are speaking English.”
And then he pivoted—quickly, like he wanted the point to land without turning into a full-blown diplomatic spat. “We have some of the best human capital anywhere in the world. We just need to sharpen it with more training.”
Now, context matters here. Ruto’s comments came just days after Tinubu said Nigerians were “better off than those in Kenya and other African countries,” even as fuel prices continue to bite at home.
“Yes, I hear you from various angles of the economy. Fuel prices are biting hard,” Tinubu said while inaugurating projects led by Bayelsa State Governor Douye Diri in Yenagoa. “But look around—let’s thank God together that you are better off. Listen to what people in Kenya and other African countries are going through.”
That comparison didn’t sit well with everyone. Former Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi weighed in, and he wasn’t impressed by the political messaging.
“Na statistics we go shop?” Obi asked, in a line that hit hard with many Nigerians online.
He argued that leaders shouldn’t rely on rhetorical comparisons to measure progress. Real development, he said, has to be backed by solid, measurable data.
“Yet statistics remain indispensable,” Obi added. “They are the language through which nations understand their condition and chart progress.”
He also warned that comparisons without credible figures can mislead the public. “No country can develop in isolation from measurable realities or without comparing itself with peers,” he said. “What is objectionable is not comparison itself, but comparison stripped of credible, verifiable data—mere tax collector comparisons that soothe rather than solve.”
Ruto didn’t directly name Tinubu, and he didn’t spell out that his remarks were a response. But online, plenty of people read them that way. The timing was hard to ignore.
