Akpabio marked his 61st birthday with a colloquium held in Abuja on Thursday, December 14
By Kehinde Okeowo
Eseme Eyiboh, media aide to the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio has debunked innuendos that he collapsed on Thursday at the colloquium held to mark his 61st birthday in Abuja.
Reports that the former Akwa Ibom governor collapsed during the event and had to be rushed to the National Hospital made the rounds after some media outlets, not TheNiche, reported the news.
Dismissing the rumours, his media team, via a statement signed by Eyiboh, described the claims as “fictionalised extensions of the Senate President’s assertion of being tired at the end of the programme.”
He went on to say the phoney news gained grounds because of the comment, insisting Akpabio is fine and that he “spoke on his feet for more than 30 minutes” during the event.
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The statement read: “The rumours have been fanned by some social media news channels with notoriety for the dissemination of phoney news flashes.
“It is disconcerting that the conjectures on the wellbeing of the Senate President came after he was celebrated by the crème-de-crème of the nation’s leadership at the colloquium that was focused on defining a legislative agenda for Nigeria.
“Akpabio spoke on his feet for more than 30 minutes. As the programme ended and President Bola Tinubu left the venue, his expression to some of those around him that he was tired escalated to a fainting spell or collapse.
“Some adventurous purveyors of lies, in their thrilling escapade of fiction, even claimed that he is currently in a critical condition at the National Hospital, Abuja.
“This is wholly untrue and I declare firmly that besides saying he was exhausted to the hearing of those around him, he was certainly not rushed in a stretcher to the national hospital or indisposed.”