Hon Eseme Eyiboh, Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, has described as “unholy fake news” rumours making the rounds in some social media space that his boss collapsed on Thursday, December 14, 2023 in the course of the Colloquium and was rushed to national hospital.
The Colloquium was held in Abuja to complement the activities marking the 61st birthday of the Senate President.
In a reaction to the news about Akpabio being rushed to the hospital after collapsing, his spokesman said: “the rumours and reports were fictionalized extensions of the Senate President’s assertion of being tired at the end of the programme.”
Eyiboh said: “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.
“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.”

Prince Clem Ikanade Agba, immediate past Minister of State for Budget and National Planning in the government of President Muhammadu Buhari, has indicated interest in contesting the governorship of Edo State on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The governorship hopeful told the State Working Committee of the APC today, December 14, that if he is given the opportunity to be the candidate of the party and he eventually gets elected, he would adopt an agenda aimed at stopping rural-urban drift through sustained rural development.
Prince Agba, who was at the party secretariat in Benin City to intimate party officials of his intention to contest the election, said that he had already prepared a master plan with an acronym: “Transforming Our Rural and Urban Spaces Together (TRUST),” to actualise the mission of rural development.
Agba told the working committee which was led by secretary to the state chapter of the party, Lawrence Okah, that transforming rural areas will reduce drift to cities, which in turn would provide food security and reduce insecurities across the state.
He noted that the total neglect of rural areas put pressure on cities, opining that villages produced large percentage of food consumed in the cities, but that much of the produce was lost to bad road network and insecurity.
He said that he had diagnosed the state’s problems, and solutions prepared through TRUST.
“We are out to change the narrative of rural areas disappearing, especially in Edo South, everywhere is now cities.”
He said that as Minister of Budget and National Planning, who studied multidimensional poverty in the country, he realised that deprivation is a major form of poverty.
He said that every ward in the state ordinarily is supposed to house a primary healthcare centre with nurses and medical doctors’ quarters attached.
This, he said, he would work towards if elected governor.
Enumerating some of the projects he embarked on as Commissioner for Environment in the state, Agba said urban renewal was the focal point of the tenure of Governor Adams Oshiomhole administration.
He said that watersheds, which were 70% completed as of when he left office, had since been abandoned.
He said that they were built across the state to retain water whenever it rained.
He informed the party leaders that roads, including drainages, with street lights were also built.
According to him, a 5-star water fountain was built to cater to the masses, especially the poor who did not have access to such facility.
He lamented that all these legacies of his tenure were no longer there as the succeeding government had neglected all that.
He recalled that as Budget and National Planning minister, he was in charge of the nation’s budget and could not do much.
According to him, he partnered some international agencies to help finance projects in the state and that through this, he was able to attract about 250 projects across the state.
The projects include intensive Care Unit, Molecular Laboratories at the University of Benin Teaching and Communicable Disease Centre at Irrua Specialist Hospital, among other projects.
On the Abuja – Okene -Auchi Road, he said that there was budgetary allocation for the rehabilitation through his office.
He said he also attracted projects to Uromi and Ewatto in Esanland, among others.
On Ewotubu Upper Ekenwan Road, he said Governor Godwin Obaseki stopped the project when he made attempt to include it in the budget.
He said that the governor insisted he had already awarded the road to a contractor.

Attorney-general and commissioner of justice in Rivers State, Zacchaeus Adangor has resigned.
In a letter to Governor Siminalayi Fubara, Adangor said that his resignation is “based purely on personal reasons.”
The letter, dated December 14, reads: “I hereby give Your Excellency Notice of my resignation as the Honourable Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Rivers State with effect from the date of this letter.
“For the avoidance of doubt, my resignation from the said office is based purely on personal principles.
“I wish to thank Your Excellency for the opportunity and privilege granted me to serve in your administration as a member of the Cabinet. My family and are indebted to Your Excellency in gratitude.
“I wish your Excellency a successful tenure. Please accept the assurances of my highest regards always.”
The resignation is coming in the middle of the political crisis between Governor Fubara and his predecessor, Nyesom Wike who is now minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Only yesterday, December 13, Governor Fubara presented 2024 budget to five members of Rivers House of Assembly. He also demolished the assembly complex over the fire incident in October.
Earlier in the week, 27 members of the House of Assembly had defected from the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the State to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The Minister of Labour, Simon Lalong, has tendered his resignation from President Bola Tinubu’s government.
He submitted his resignation letter at the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, today, December 14.
His resignation is for him to resume as the senator representing Plateau South Senatorial district.
He had contested the election and lost but was declared the rightful winner recently by the appeal court.
Details later…