National
Media assistant for Akpabio refuts his alleged collapse at birthday event.
By Hannah Nathan, Warri
Reports that Senate President Godswill Akpabio passed out during Thursday’s 61st birthday colloquium in Abuja have been refuted by the senator’s media team.
The former governor of Akwa Ibom reportedly passed out during the celebration and needed to be taken to the National Hospital by ambulance.
However, the media team refuted the stories in a statement that was signed by Eseme Eyiboh, calling the allegations “fictionalized extensions of the Senate President’s assertion of being tired at the end of the program.
“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,” the statement read.