Hon. Eseme Eyiboh, Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, CON has debunked rumours which he said were on the fringes of decency to the effect that the Senate President collapsed on Thursday, December 14, 2023 in the course of the Colloquium that complemented activities marking his 61st birthday.

In a rebuttal of the report that Akpabio collapsed during or after the programme, Eyiboh said that the rumours and reports were “fictionalized extensions of the Senate President’s assertion of being tired at the end of the programme”.

He stated: “The rumours which have come to our notice through word of mouth from concerned and patriotic stakeholders have been fanned by some social media news channels with notoriety for the dissemination of phony newsflashes.

“It was especially disconcerting that the conjectures on the wellbeing of the Senate President came after he was celebrated by the crème-de-crème of the nation’s leadership across all sectors at the Colloquium that was focused on defining a legislative agenda for national development”.

Debunking the claim that Akpabio collapsed, Eyiboh continued: “Senator Akpabio spoke on his feet for more than 30 minutes as he gave the expose` of his trajectory in a way as never before.

“As the programme ended and President Bola Tinubu left the Transcorp Hotel venue, Senator Akpabio’s expression to some of those around him that he was tired was escalated to a fainting spell or collapse.

“Some more adventurous purveyors of untruth in their thrilling escapade of fiction even claimed that he is presently hospitalized and in a critical condition in the National Hospital, Abuja.”

“This is wholly untrue and I declare firmly that besides saying he was exhausted in the hearing of those around him that he was certainly not rushed in a stretcher to the national hospital or indisposed,” Eyiboh said in decrying the claims that Akpabio collapsed and was hospitalised.