12 June – Read how Atiku Abubakar politicised President Bola Tinubu’s Democracy Day Fall
Atiku Abubakar has quickly reacted to the misstep of President Bola Amed Tinubu’s fall. He subtly attributed the fall to an imaginary underlying health issue.
Already, Nigerians have started circulating the video and attributing it to old age. While some quickly made a political case with it that the President is too old to lead Nigeria.
But in defense of the President, his aide, who takes the title of Special Adviser on social media quickly said it was a “misstep”
He explained that the President fell when he missed his footing at Eagles Square Abuja where the June 12 Democracy Day event is happening.
The Special Adviser, Dada Olusegun, said the misstep happened while the President was boarding a parade vehicle at the June 12 Democracy Day celebration in Abuja.
In a post on his X handle, formerly known as Twitter on Wednesday, Olusegun cleared the controversies by stating
“Mr. President missed his step while climbing into the truck at the June 12 Democracy Day celebration and tripped. It was a mild misstep. He immediately went on with the ceremonial rounds. No issues”
There have been questions raised about the age of the President who won his election after videos of dementia related issues were circulated during his campaign.
Atiku Abubakar did not fail to take advantage of the fall to score a political point, while subtly concealing his true intention in a sympathetic message.
The last PDP presidential candidate uploaded the video and made comments that opined the President has a problem.
“I sincerely sympathise with President Bola Tinubu, over this unfortunate incident as he was set to review the parade on Democracy Day. I do hope that all is well with him. -AA” the statement reads.
The former vice-president of Nigeria is Tinubu’s major opponent and likely to contest the next election.
He is also seen as a PDP leader, whose influence significantly decided against the will of the party where the party ticket for presidency got zoned in the last election.
The decision to make the ticket a freehold led to mass exodus of party members and stakeholders.
The party previously had a meeting of all its governors at Asaba, Delta State – hosted by former Governor Ifeanyi Okowa. At the meeting, the governors decided the party ticket will be zoned to the Southern part of the country.
Atiku later lost the election to President Bola Tinubu who became the flag bearer of APC after intense political fight to take it away from him.
The message put out by Atiku reflects the desperation of Nigerian politicians who take advantage of everything at their disposal to score political points.
However, supporters of the President has defended the President and said that anybody could fall as a result of misstep.
Tinubu’s age has come under question, with discrepancies seen in various documents. He was accused of falsifying his age, which is not a serious crime in Nigeria.
His age will continue to be a factor within the political space, and opposition will continue to bash him.
