Paul Ibe, the media adviser to the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, has dismissed claims that the former vice president is sick and had been flown to London for medical attention.
WITHIN NIGERIA had reported that the Director of Special Projects and New media of the Tinubu/Shettima presidential campaign Council, Femi Fani-Kayode, claimed that Atiku is sick and currently in London for treatment.
Reacting to Fani-Kayode’s claim, Ibe said Atiku will on Monday (today) arrives in London for meetings on the invitation of the British Government.
The Atiku’s media adviser stated this via his Twitter handle, @omonlakiki.
He said, “For the avoidance of doubt, the presidential candidate of the PDP and former Vice President of Nigeria (1999-2007) will be arriving in London on Monday, January 9 for meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday on the invitation of the British Government.”
Also speaking, Director, Strategic Communications, National Election Management Committee of the PDP Campaign Council, Chief Dele Momodu, urged Nigerians to ignore the report of Atiku’s alleged ill-health in its entirety “because it is completely false.”
Speaking with PUNCH, Momodu, in a telephone conversation said, “The man went on vacation. Anyone who knows him can tell you that the man (Atiku) does not joke about his vacation. He went to Dubai from where he would be leaving for London on Monday (today). When he arrived in Dubai, I was the first person he spoke with. I was in Turkey at the time. The report is the joke of the year. How can a man who is hale and hearty be flown out?”
A spokesman of the Atiku/Okowa Presidential Campaign Organisation, Senator Dino Melaye, also dismissed the report as he urged Nigerians to “disregard the lies of unrepentant liars. Atiku is 100 per cent fit and in super form, health-wise. The British government invited the leading presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, just like that they had invited Bola Tinubu and Peter Obi earlier.”