I Had Malaria, Didn’t Collapse, Akpabio Tells Colleagues, Associates 

Sunday Aborisade in Abuja

President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, yesterday, clarified that he was down with Malaria after his 61st Birthday Colloquium held in Abuja on Thursday which was attended by President Bola Tinubu.

Akpabio, who addressed his colleagues, associates, staff and journalists said he did not slump contrary to social media reports that he collapsed and was rushed to the hospital immediately the event was over.

He said, “What happened yesterday (Thursday), was a show of humanity. So I went home and I called my doctor and I was assured that I had a bout of Malaria mingled with stress and the went home.

“It could also be described in another way as exhaustion. In fact anybody could be exhausted. In fact,  drink water daily so that you don’t get exhausted. This is to say that the beat goes on.”

Akpabio commended the traditional media for not celebrating the sensational report hyped by the online and social media platforms.

Earlier, his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Hon. Eseme Eyiboh, had said the social media report that his principal, collapsed on Thursday, was not true.

In his rebuttal, Eyiboh said that the rumours and reports were fictionalised extensions of the Senate President’s assertion of being tired at the end of the programme.

Eyiboh 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.”