Kenny Okolugbo, Consultant on Communications and Strategy to the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, has dismissed reports circulating on social media suggesting that the Senate President is unwell, describing them as false and unfounded.
Speaking during an interview on Morning Brief, a Channels Television programme aired on Thursday, Okolugbo said the claims had no basis in fact and urged the public to disregard them. He stressed that Senator Akpabio remains healthy and continues to discharge his official responsibilities without interruption.
“The Senate President is very healthy. You saw him; he’s been attending sessions, and that answers the question,” Okolugbo said, pointing to Akpabio’s recent public appearances and legislative engagements as evidence of his well-being.
The media aide noted that such rumours were not new in Nigeria’s political space, adding that senior public officials were often targeted by misinformation campaigns on social media. He cited a recent example involving the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, who was also reportedly declared incapacitated by online sources, only to appear shortly afterwards performing official duties.
“Even Minister Wike was affected by similar rumours. One day they said he was in a coma or had suffered a stroke, and the next day he was commissioning projects and appeared on a live programme,” Okolugbo said.
According to him, the rapid spread of unverified information online poses a serious challenge to governance and public trust. He therefore called for stronger regulation of social media platforms to curb the dissemination of misinformation and irresponsible reporting.
“We must regulate social media. Everybody’s a publisher online, but they don’t seem to understand that the law prohibits sharing information you are not sure of,” he warned.
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The comments followed a report published earlier in the week by online news platform SaharaReporters, which claimed that the Senate President had collapsed and was flown to London aboard a private jet for medical treatment. The report further alleged that Akpabio’s purported ill health was responsible for his absence from certain official engagements, including the interactive session on the Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper held on Wednesday.
Okolugbo dismissed the claims as speculative and misleading, insisting that the Senate President’s schedule and public engagements contradict the narrative being circulated online.
He urged the media and social media users to adhere to professional ethics, verify information before publication, and avoid spreading rumours capable of causing unnecessary public anxiety.
The Senate President’s office has continued to maintain that Akpabio remains focused on legislative business and committed to his duties at the National Assembly.
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