by Kolapo Olapoju

The Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Maj. General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), has blatantly refuted widespread reports that he is suffering from a terminal illness.

Buhari told journalists that the report on his state of health was orchestrated by some individuals not only to gain undue political advantage but to divert public attention from corruption which had assumed the front burner of national discourse.

He said: “There were reports that I was to jet out for medical check-up yesterday (Saturday) but here I am. I was in Nasarawa and Benue states yesterday (Saturday) and tomorrow, I will be in two states. The day after tomorrow (Tuesday), I will be in two more states. I sincerely don’t know how they got the impression that I was sick. I had a cold but it did not stop me from going through my schedule.”

Speaking further, Buhari stated that a medical document purportedly confirming his alleged poor state of health was doctored.

The APC presidential candidate said: “The Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital said the documents are forged. This desperation is beyond my comprehension. The issue we are letting Nigerians know is that there has been much corruption in this country in the last 16 years. The Peoples Democratic Party has literally destroyed this country.”

In a similar vein, the APC in a statement by the Directorate of Media and Publicity of its Presidential Campaign Organisation accused the PDP of circulating a fake medical report on Buhari’s health.

The campaign organisation said it was absurd for the PDP to be so brazen in its “shameless” effort to decieve Nigerians who are yearning for a change of guard at the federal level.

The statement released, reads in part: “The attention of the APC Presidential Campaign Organisation has been brought to the circulation of a fake medical record of Gen, Buhari.”

“We are able to track the circulation of the post on a social media platform and we know that the information emanated from the Facebook handle of one of Governor Ayo Fayose’s aides. It is noteworthy that the authorities at ABUTH have given a clean bill on Gen. Buhari’s health status.

“It is also noteworthy for Nigerians to understand that the PDP will stop at nothing to cast aspersion on the person of Gen. Buhari. We knew that the PDP would become unbridled at a point in its desperation to avert the defeat coming its way in the countdown to the February 14 presidential election, but to anticipate that the PDP would go as dirty as spreading falsehood on an individual’s state of health could not have been imaginable.”

“What is important is that Nigerians know today that our country is not healthy. They know that the PDP has driven the country to a near state of comatose.”

However, the PDP said instead of denying the report, Buhari should prove to Nigerians that he is healthy enough to rule the country, by jogging round a stadium.

At a news conference in Abuja by the Director of Media and Publicity of its Presidential Campaign Organisation Femi Fani-Kayode, the ruling party said the rumour that the former Head of State was suffering from prostrate cancer was worrisome.

It said: “The rumour that he is suffering from prostrate cancer is exceptionally worrying and it is incumbent upon each and everyone of us to pray for him if this rumour is true.”

“We are constrained to urge him to prove to the Nigerian people that he really is as fit as a fiddle, as the spokesman of his PCO has said, by taking a brisk walk or even jogging around the perimeter of the stadium before any of his rallies. If he can do that, it will go a long way to allay the fears of many.”