The presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Bola Tinubu, was on Wednesday allegedly rushed off the stage at the party’s presidential rally in Minna due to poor health.
It was gathered that Tinubu could not arrive in the Niger State capital in the morning for the rally as he had to attend to his health with specialist doctors rushed to attend to him on Tuesday, soon after he had made an appearance at the North West zone rally held at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna.
He was advised to rest that Tuesday evening after the rally, thus delaying his arrival in Minna until Wednesday. He arrived at the venue of the rally, which was well underway in the afternoon in Minna.
A source who revealed the development from Minna via telephone call further said that Tinubu was advised to avoid the Minna rally to take “a deserved rest” but his team insisted he must put up an appearance in order to cover up the development.
However, when he was ushered to the stage to speak in a live telecast monitored by our correspondent, the former Lagos State Governor could only shout the party’s name several times in a slow and incoherent manner.
“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 however continued shouting, “God bless you, God bless Niger State, may God bless you,” and was led away from the podium without presenting his manifesto and what he will do if he wins the 2023 presidential election.
The rally was thereafter cut short in a live beam monitored by this paper on the candidate’s television Station, TVC.
Tinubu is believed to be having a running battle with some undisclosed illnesses.
There have been several reports of the APC candidate being afflicted with Parkinson’s disease but he has kept mum on the development.
