*Says APC presidential candidate’s health status personal, shouldn’t be a media issue
*Insists party working on manifesto
Alex Enumah in Abuja
The Deputy Director General of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Campaign Council, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole has said the health condition of the APC presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, remains personal and secret to Tinubu, which should not be a thing of concern to others, especially journalists.
Oshiomhole, who stated this while responding to questions when he appeared as a guest on the Arise Television Newsnight programme Wednesday, dismissed insinuations that Tinubu was not healthy enough to vie for the position of president of Nigeria.
When asked about the whereabouts of the APC presidential candidate who had not appeared in public since INEC lifted ban on campaigns for the 2023 general election, the former Chairman of the APC and former Edo State Governor said he was neither a nurse nor a medical doctor to speak on the health of another person.
He said, “Arise television is one of the leading electronic media and I think there are things you should not dabble into. How can you ask me…have I ever been a nurse not to talk of being a doctor? If you want to ask me, even though I am not a lawyer, I know enough that your health status is your problem, it’s your secret”.
He further argued that assuming Tinubu’s health status became a Nigeria issue, it will not be laymen that will speak to it, but people who were competent enough and that the Constitution had already made provisions in that regard.
“It is not right, in my view, it is an abuse of your right as a journalist to ask me to speak to the health of another person. Not because there is any rumour, and what is the basis of the rumour?” Oshiomole queried. He explained that Tinubu was not absent at the recent NBA conference because he delegated his deputy to represent him at the occasion, who also did the same at the signing of the peace accord, adding that those documents he signed are valid.
When asked when Nigerians would see the APC presidential candidate, Oshiomhole simply stated that what Nigerians wanted to see was the manifesto of the APC, which he said they were currently working on.
He however declined to give a hint of what the manifesto contains on the grounds that it was a procedural issue and that he was not authorised to speak on it.
He said Tinubu was not only hale and hearty but stronger than all other presidential candidates, adding that Tinubu is the only one among the three or four leading candidates that hold meetings up till 4 am Monday to Sunday.
He dismissed reports of the alleged ill health of the APC presidential candidate. He urged people to focus on issues rather than personalities.
Oshiomhole also denied any rift in the APC, stating that everybody wants to be seen playing one role or the other hence, the various meetings to harmonize and present a common front. He added that the party would soon unveil its manifesto as well as announce the date for the commencement of its campaign.
