Bola Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress, was allegedly rushed off the stage at the party’s presidential rally in Minna on Wednesday due to ill health.
According to reports, Tinubu was unable to arrive in the Niger State capital in the morning for the rally because he needed to attend to his health, with specialist doctors rushing to attend to him on Tuesday, shortly after he appeared at the North West zone rally held at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium in Kaduna.
He was advised to rest after the rally on Tuesday evening, delaying his arrival in Minna until Wednesday. He arrived at the rally site in Minna, which was already in full swing.
According to a source who revealed the development from Minna via phone call, Tinubu was advised to skip the Minna rally to take “a well-deserved rest.” Still, his team insisted that he appear to cover up the development.
When ushered to the stage to speak in a live telecast monitored by our correspondent, however, the former Lagos State Governor could only shout the party’s name several times slowly and incoherently.
“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 continued to shout, “God bless you, God bless Niger State, may God bless you,” and was led away from the podium without presenting his manifesto or what he plans to do if he wins the presidential election in 2023.
Following that, the rally was cut short in a live feed monitored by this paper on the candidate’s television station, TVC.
Tinubu is thought to be suffering from some unspecified illnesses.
Several reports have shown that the APC candidate has Parkinson’s disease, but he has remained silent.
Discussion about this post