Since Bola Tinubu, former governor of Lagos state, declared his intention to run for president in 2023, a lot of concerns have been raised about his health.
But that has not prevented him from going around the country to consult with leaders at different levels about his presidential ambition.
During one of his consultative visits to the palace of Jimoh Olanipekun, Ataoja of Osogbo, he told his critics that he needs more thinking if he emerges as president of Nigeria in 2023 than physical strength.
“I am not applying for the job of bricklaying or grave digging. I went to school to study accountancy and management. I am applying for a thinking job and I will do it right. The job I want to do is for Nigeria to be greater and to be proud of itself,” he said fuelling concerns that he may indeed have issues with his health and admitting it inadvertently.
Tinubu might have succeeded in downplaying his health challenges, however, some of his public statements show that he is not as psychologically fit as he claims.
Addressing a delegation of women from Lagos at the APC’s Women Conference in Abuja on Tuesday, January 18, 2022, Tinubu asked them to get new Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs). According to him, this is because the current PVCs issued by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) have expired.
“In case they do not announce to you on time, the PVC you have has expired,” he said.
“You need to spread it to various local government and wards at each levels. No matter how difficult it is. To me, I look at it closely and you look at other elections being held, you will see that it’s diminishing because those cards (is) expired. It’s mandatory that you go and register to vote and achieve your aspirations. May God bless you and bless Nigeria.”
The Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Rotimi Oyekanmi, however, countered the claim, saying that the PVC is valid as long as it is not defaced, adding that double registration is an offence under the law.
Tinubu, afterwards, tendered an apology in a statement by his media aide, Tunde Rahman.
On Saturday, April 16, 2022, Tinubu made a fresh claim on PVC expiry date, despite INEC debunking his earlier claim three months ago.
Addressing supporters at a rally held to support his presidential ambition at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena, Onikan, Lagos, on Saturday, April 16, Tinubu claimed that voters would need to revalidate their PVCs in order to be able to vote in the 2023 general elections.
While urging those who have not registered to do so, the former Lagos State governor told his audience to go and revalidate their PVCs, saying the cards might have expired.
He said, “If you have no PVC, if you have no revalidation of that PVC, you don’t know whether it has expired. Don’t forget that there is expiry date even on your cashpoint so go and revalidate the card. Those of you who have not registered must go there. You can’t be part of 1.4 billion people on Instagram and have no card for God’s sake.”
The former Lagos State governor also lamented Nigeria’s moribund power infrastructure at the rally.
“And yet we started disconnecting from NIPP our phone numbers,” he said in an apparent mix up of electricity and phone infrastructure, outrightly mistaking the National Independent Power Project (NIPP) for the National Identification Number (NIN).
Tinubu failed to correct himself before the audience that electricity generation and mobile phone networks are different.
In yet another gaffe, the presidential aspirant said Nigerians like “tweeting on WhatsApp”.
Decrying how Nigeria has not been able to harness its full potential in the area of modern technology at the rally in Lagos on Saturday, Tinubu said, “Do you know how many of you are tweeting on WhatsApp right now? [intelligible] holds a database of 1.6 billion on WhatsApp alone.”
Clearly, the comment suggests that the former Lagos governor could not distinguish between WhatsApp and Twitter, two dominant social media platforms.
Tinubu’s mixture of NIPP and NIN, Twitter and WhatsApp marks an instance of his embarrassing public statements, which experts said could signify mental health challenges, which he has made efforts to downplay.
