Senate President Godswill Akpabio on Thursday, December 14, 2023, collapsed at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja while seeing President Bola Ahmed Tinubu off after his birthday colloquium.
After stabilising him, Akpabio was immediately wheeled on stretcher into into a Special Room in the hospital he was rushed to.
Tinubu and other dignitaries had gathered at the Congress Hall of the hotel for a colloquium to mark the 61st birthday of the Senate President in Abuja.
A source said, “Senate President Akpabio collapsed today after his 61st birthday colloquium in Abuja while seeing the President off. He was briefly stabilised before being rushed to the NNPC hospital in Abuja where he was wheeled into a special room on a stretcher. He has remained at the hospital.”
At the event, President Tinubu said the executive and legislative arms of government would jointly tackle the challenges confronting Nigeria.
Speaking at the colloquium on Thursday in Abuja, President Tinubu said the challenges facing the country will be jointly assessed by the executive and legislature to evolve implementable solutions for the good of Nigerians.
“Having Senate President Akpabio, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Right Honourable Abbas, on my side is enough for me to succeed, and we will succeed,” a statement signed by Chief Ajuri Ngelale, Special Adviser to the President on Media & Publicity quoted Tinubu as saying at the event.
“I believe in the person of Sen. Godswill Akpabio. He is truly in God’s will for his life. I was governor in Lagos State from 1999 to 2007, and he was a commissioner.”
However, in a swift reaction, the Senate spokesperson, Yemi Adaramodu, debunked that his principal slumped saying there was no truth in the reports that the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, collapsed at an event held in Abuja earlier in the day to mark his 61st birthday.
Adaramodu, “Nothing of such happened. Everybody saw him today, he was hale and hearty. I sat behind them today and was even part of the team that saw the President off. The Senate President didn’t collapse. How can people make that kind of claim without video clips? Is it possible to witness such a thing and not make a video?”
Furthermore, Jackson Udom, one of the Senate President’s spokesperson said nothing of such happened, and at no time was his principal wheeled out of the venue of the colloquium.
He said, “The report is not true. The Senate President didn’t collapse neither was he wheeled out. Let the people sharing the story provide a picture of such happenings.”
However, some sources who attended the event said that Akpabio slumped while seated on a chair at the hotel where the event was held, stressing that Akpabio did not collapse while walking but slumped while seated.
One of the sources said, “The Senate President must have been tired. He was seated after the colloquium and the next thing was that he slumped. It was when people saw that he had slumped that he was rushed for medical attention.”
Another source also buttressed it, saying, “After the Senate President escorted the President alongside some other senators, he came back and sat down when he slumped. He was resuscitated and then rushed to a private hospital not too far from Transcorp. He is still in the hospital.”
