Sen. Akpabio had hosted high-profile guests at a colloquium to mark his 61st birthday anniversary and said he got tired. He advised journalists to drink water frequently
The President of the Senate, Godwsill Akpabio has opened up on his health status saying he is stable, as against the reports of his collapse on Thursday, December 14, 2023 in the course of the colloquium that complemented activities marking his 61st birthday.
He disclosed this on Friday, 15 December, 2023 while speaking with journalists at the National Assembly.
He said: “I have been reading through the social media but I’m happy the press corps did not join the show of propaganda. What eventually happened after the event was a show of humanity. I went home and I called my doctors and I was assured that I have malaria, mingled with stress, which could also be described in another way as exhaustion. In fact, anybody could be exhausted. Please, drink water daily so that you don’t get exhausted.
“This is to say that the work goes on. I want to assure Nigerians that the National Assembly is intact and we are still going on with our duty, our appropriation. We will resume on 20th December. But before then, the various committees must have finished their works to enable us meet the target to pass the budget before the end of the year for the president to append his signature.”
READ ALSO: Akpabio visits Tinubu, debunks rising crisis in the Senate
Recall that at the late hours of Thursday, 14th December, 2023, there were reports that Akpabio had collapsed after the second part of his 61st birthday celebration in Abuja. It was reported that he slumped while seated on a chair at the Transcorp Hilton hotel where the event was held.
Following these reports, his special adviser on media and publicity, Eseme Eyiboh, came out to describe the storiesas fictionalized extensions of the senate president’s assertion of being tired at the end of the programme.
He said: “The rumours which have come to our notice through word of mouth from concerned and patriotic stakeholders have been fanned by some social media news channels with notoriety for the dissemination of phony newsflashes.
“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.
“Senator Akpabio spoke on his feet for more than 30 minutes as he gave the expose` of 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 was 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 that he was certainly not rushed in a stretcher to the national hospital or indisposed.”
