Tinubu's former deputy Femi Pedro says there is nothing wrong with Asiwaju's health

FORMER Lagos State deputy governor Otunba Femi Pedro has attributed the incessant gaffs by his former boss Asiwaju Bola Tinubu on the presidential campaign trail to the pressures of the exercise adding that there is nothing wrong with his health.

On February 25, Nigerians will decide who their next president is, as President Muhammadu Buhari's tenure is set to end. Frontrunners in the election include former Lagos State governor Asiwaju Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), former Kano State governor Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP) and Peter Obi of the Labour Party.

Asiwaju Tinubu's campaign has been characterised with constant gaffes, with him for instance referring to Alhaji Abubakar as the former senate president, when he was in fact the former vice president. These gaffes have led to a lot of people questioning the state of Asiwaju Tinubu's health and mental alertness.

A former Lagos State deputy governor Otunba Pedro, who served as Tinubu's number two between 2003 and 2007, however, dismissed such notions, passing the gaffes off as mere slips of the tongue, brought about by pressure from campaigns. He insisted that Asiwaju Tinubu is fit both mentally and physically to lead Nigeria, adding that mistakes are common and anybody can make them.

Otunba Pedro said: “He might have made few slips here and there, everybody does that. The other time Iyorchia Ayu on national TV said the PDP should be rejected, he didn’t mean PDP, of course but it was a slip.

“When you’re on a campaign trail, the pressure, the noise, the gravitas, the general rally atmosphere, you can easily have a slip of tongue. That is not unusual and it’s not unheard of all over the world.

“Asiwaju is very fit, he is fitter than me. He is energetic and he is everywhere. Asiwaju’s cognitive skill is perfect, most of the speeches we hear or read are doctored. That is the narrative that has been presented by the other opposition to make him seem unfit.

“I was with him two days ago in Abuja with other leaders. I was pleasantly impressed by his energy, his vigour, he has not been hiding. We have seen him speak before in Nigerian economic summits, town hall meetings in Kano, Rivers and Lagos.”

Now, the current chairman of the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency of Nigeria Pedro, is also a member of the APC’s Presidential Campaign Council, said Nigerians have nothing to worry about as regards Asiwaju Tinubu’s health and cognitive abilities. On  February 12 2018, he was appointed as the pioneer chairman of the Lagos State Sports Trust Fund.