‘He was only tired’ — aide says Akpabio didn’t slump after birthday colloquium

Eseme Eyiboh, special adviser to Senate President Godswill Akpabio on media and publicity, says his principal did not collapse and was not taken to a hospital.

There were reports that the senate president slumped and was rushed to a hospital after a colloquium to mark his 61st birthday in Abuja on Thursday.

President Bola Tinubu and Tajudeen Abbas, speaker of the house of representatives, were among the dignitaries present at the event.

In a statement on Friday, Eyiboh said it was disconcerting that some people celebrated the “fiction”.

“It was especially 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 across all sectors at the Colloquium that was focused on defining a legislative agenda for national development,” Eyiboh said.

“Senator Akpabio spoke on his feet for more than 30 minutes as he exposed his trajectory in a way as never before.

“As the programme ended and President Bola Tinubu left the Transcorp Hotel venue, Senator Akpabio’s expression to some of those around him that he was tired escalated to a fainting spell or collapse.

“Some more adventurous purveyors of untruth in their thrilling escapade of fiction even claimed that he is presently hospitalized and in a critical condition in the National Hospital, Abuja.

“This is wholly untrue and I declare firmly that besides saying he was exhausted in the hearing of those around him, he was certainly not rushed in a stretcher to the national hospital or indisposed.”