The presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Bola Tinubu, was on Wednesday allegedly rushed off the stage at the party’s presidential rally in Minna due to poor health.
It was gathered that Tinubu could not arrive in the Niger State capital in the morning for the rally as he had to attend to his health with specialist doctors rushed to attend to him on Tuesday, soon after he had made an appearance at the North West zone rally held at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna.
He was advised to rest that Tuesday evening after the rally, thus delaying his arrival in Minna until Wednesday. He arrived at the venue of the rally, which was well underway in the afternoon in Minna.
A source who revealed the development from Minna via telephone call further said that Tinubu was advised to avoid the Minna rally to take “a deserved rest” but his team insisted he must put up an appearance in order to cover up the development.
However, when he was ushered to the stage to speak in a live telecast monitored by The Whistler correspondent, the former Lagos State Governor could only shout the party’s name several times in a slow and incoherent manner.
“APC, APC, Niger! Nigeria, Nigeria! Sai Bago, Sai Bago, APC, APC!” Tinubu said on stage.
“Sai Lolo, Sai lolo,” he continued, after which he busted into laughter.
He kept shouting, “Sai Bago, sai jagaban”, a nickname he is known for as his voice kept diminishing.
He however continued shouting, “God bless you, God bless Niger State, may God bless you,” and was led away from the podium without presenting his manifesto and what he will do if he wins the 2023 presidential election.
The rally was thereafter cut short in a live beam monitored by The Whistler on the candidate’s television Station, TVC.
Why Tinubu left Minna rally early – APC PCC
While reacting, the Director, Media and Publicity, All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council, Bayo Onanuga, has said presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, was not rushed off the stage due to health concerns at his rally in Minna, the Niger State capital.
According to Onanuga, the crowd that turned up to welcome Tinubu at the rally was so massive that the former governor of Lagos State had to address them briefly.
He disclosed this in a statement shared on the official website of the APC presidential candidate and his running mate, Senator Kashim Shettima.
The statement read, “A massive crowd of APC supporters welcomed the presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to Minna on Wednesday, as he arrived for the mega rally.
“The cheering crowd was unprecedented, according to journalists at the Trade Fair Complex, venue of the rally.
“Tinubu, who held another successful rally in Kaduna on Tuesday, arrived in Minna in the evening of the same day for a series of meetings with APC leaders.
“The crowd was so huge that Tinubu spoke briefly to appreciate the supporters and identified the party candidates seeking elective positions.
“Contrary to the rumours that he was rushed off stage because of health concerns, Tinubu cut it short to attend to other programmes of the day.
“He commended the party supporters for coming out en masse to witness the flag off of the presidential campaign.”
After the rally, Tinubu inaugurated his campaign office in the city, donated by Blueprint Newspaper Publisher and Chairman, Strategic Communications of the Asiwaju Bola Tinubu Presidential Campaign Council, Mohammed Malagi.
He also paid a visit to the Emir of Minna and was later hosted in a luncheon organised by the Governor of Niger, Abubakar Bello, a report by PUNCH reads.
•Tinubu’s alleged ill health
Tinubu is believed to be having a running battle with some undisclosed illnesses.
There have been several reports of the APC candidate being afflicted with Parkinson’s disease but he has kept mum on the development.
He has also spent months overseas for treatments of undisclosed illnesses amid calls from his critics and opponents for full disclosure of his health status.
In February in Osogbo, Osun State, Tinubu had defended such calls saying, “I am not applying for the job of bricklaying or grave digging.”
That fuel concerns that he may indeed have issues with his health and admitting it inadvertently since the constitution does not mandate any candidate to disclose his health status.
“I went to school to study accountancy and management. I am applying for a thinking job and I will do it right. The job I want to do is for Nigeria to be greater and to be proud of itself,” he had added.
Also, in October 2021, Tinubu spent months in the UK, in what his camp reported to be a knee surgery.
Upon his return to Nigeria, he went philosophical stating that, “And He (God) says, if I grant you power and the privilege in this life; I am the only one who can take it from you if you don’t use it in the way and manner that promotes humanity. God can give power to any one he wills.
“It is the same God that has spared us till today and has given us the privilege. I give glory to God, because I’m standing before you hale, hearty and well,” he had said at an event hosted by Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Lagos governor.
Several calls and messages to one of his campaign spokesmen, Festus Keyamo, who also doubles as Minister of State for Labour and Employment, rang out with no reply to the messages.
While another spokesman of the Tinubu campaign council, Bayo Onanuga, paused the call, his counterpart, Dele Alake denied the incident in an abusive language sent to The Whistler Correspondent via a text message.
“Absolute bunkum, balderdash, hogwash, infantile imagination of warped minds,” Alake wrote.
“Go see the video clip,” he tasked our Correspondent, adding, “I was right behind him on the stage. The Campaign started a little behind schedule and there were other activities marked for today like his commissioning of the APC Minna secretariat, visit to the emir etc vis a vis the time.
“So, he was advised to just give a brief greeting and acknowledgement to the teeming crowd and he danced to the crowd enthusiastically before moving on to the commissioning venue and on to other activities.
“The man is as fit as a fiddle and the success of the Minna rally is top class.
“Again, Asiwaju will continue to confound his enemies as he coasts home to victory in the coming elections. All the evil wished him will continue to befall his traducers!” Aleke said.
