Ayomide Awe
A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, Otunba Segun Showunmi, has declared that President Bola Tinubu is in good health and capable of continuing in office beyond 2027.
Showunmi, who is also the Convener of The Alternative Movement, made the assertion on Thursday during a grassroots engagement in Ijebu-Igbo, Ogun State, where he canvassed support for Tinubu’s 2027 re-election bid.
His comments came amid renewed public debate over the President’s health, following his absence from the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York, where Vice President Kashim Shettima represented Nigeria.
Showunmi dismissed suggestions that Tinubu’s absence from the UN gathering was an indication of ill health, insisting that the President was fit to discharge his responsibilities.
According to him, political actors should not turn rumours concerning the President’s health into a basis for questioning his capacity to lead the country.
“The president has answered that question by saying that this is a world where when you’re in politics there’s a lot of rumour,” Showunmi said.
He added, “The president is in good health. The president is of sound mind.”
The PDP chieftain also defended Tinubu’s decision not to personally attend the UN General Assembly, arguing that the President’s responsibilities at home, particularly concerning investment initiatives, were equally important.
He maintained that the Vice President’s representation at an international engagement should not be interpreted as an inability of the President to perform his duties.
“The United Nations that people talk about, they don’t probably know that the presidency is one. Anywhere you see the Vice President acting in capacity as a representative of the President, it is as good as the President standing there,” he said.
Showunmi cited what he described as major investment opportunities in the gas sector and Ogun State’s proposed seaport as reasons the President could reasonably prioritise domestic economic engagements.
“Should he have left a 700 billion investment towards gas in this country so that I can sit down and be taking pictures with some people in the United Nations?” he asked.
“Or should he have left the 17 billion investment in a seaport for our Ogun State while he’s busy taking pictures?”
However, official information previously cited in reports about the Ogun project puts the proposed Gateway Deep Seaport and Blue Marine Economic Zone investment by DP World at $7bn, rather than the $17bn figure mentioned by Showunmi.
Showunmi also questioned the tangible benefits Nigeria had derived from successive presidential attendance at the UN General Assembly, arguing that representation at the international gathering should ultimately be measured by concrete outcomes for Nigerians.
He urged Nigerians to disregard what he described as politically motivated negative reports about Tinubu’s health.
“Never listen to the ideas of naysayers. Never listen to the ideas of people who hate themselves and only laugh at mischief and at bad news,” he said.
The former Ogun governorship aspirant further accused some presidential contenders of failing to acknowledge what he described as positive developments under the Tinubu administration.
He argued that Nigeria required policy continuity to enable the administration’s economic programmes to mature.
Showunmi’s intervention came as he intensified his mobilisation for Tinubu ahead of the 2027 presidential election, making clear that his engagement in Ijebu-Igbo was aimed at securing support for the President.
He also called for increased voter participation in Ogun State, arguing that the state’s large voting population should translate into substantial turnout during elections.
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