“I Had A Cold, Not Cancer” – Muhammadu Buhari

The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Major-General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), has expressed his frustration over the campaign of calumny by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) against him, dismissing allegations propagated by the ruling party over his health, his stewardship at the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) and the controversy over his failure to submit photocopies of his academic credentials to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Thisday Newspaper reports that Buhari, who spoke on Sunday at the Rivers State Governor’s Lodge, Abuja, alongside the APC governorship candidate in Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, and former Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, described as unfortunate the amount of energy dissipated by PDP on his health and academic credentials.

He wondered how the PDP got the impression that he had prostate cancer, when all he had recently was a cold that did not deter him from his campaign rallies across the country.

“This desperation of misinformation that is being passed around will do nobody any good because our minds are being taken away from the serious issues of corruption and incompetence by the PDP.

“How they got the impression that I was sick, I do not know although I got a cold and that did not stop me from going through my schedule. A national daily reported that I was to jet out for a medical check-up yesterday, but here I am.

“I was in Nasarawa and Benue States yesterday. Tomorrow, I am going to be in two states. The day after tomorrow, in two more states. I am doing two states per day. How they got the impression that I was sick, I do not know although I had a cold, but that did not stop me from going through my schedule,” said a visibly irritated Buhari.

Buhari insisted that he was as fit as a fiddle, adding that it was not true that he was planning to jet out of the country for medical treatment as was reported in the media.

Still on the document flying around regarding his alleged ill health, Buhari said: “I don’t know of this desperation. The issue we are telling Nigerians is that of corruption in this country for the last 16 years under PDP has literally destroyed this country.

“That is the issue, so what does my health have to do with that? And documents from ABUTH (Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital) that have been put in the papers, on tweeter, that I am sick are forged. This desperation is beyond my understanding.”

When asked to make a categorical statement on his health, Buhari jokingly asked the reporter, “How old are you, 50 years? I am telling you if we go to the field, you would not last the time I will last in the field.”