On January 10, 2023, a Twitter user with the name “Peter Obi’s Feminine Voice” (@itzz_blitz1) tweeted that “the vice presidential candidate of the APC has confirmed that he’s sick and unfit as the Nigeria elections approaches.”
He attached an infographic containing an extract of Kashim Shettima’s interview with public commentators, as reported by an online newspaper, Premium Times.
VERIFICATION
Earlier, Premium Times posted on their website, an extract of the interview, quoting Shettima on issues about the health of his principal, Bola Tinubu.
The interview was held on January 1, 2023, on a Facebook Live programme “Fashin Baki”, hosted by public commentators, Bulama Bukarti, Nasir Zango, Abba Hikima, and Jaafar Jaafar.
The recorded video is available on Audu Bulama Bukarti’s channel on YouTube.
While answering questions on the health and fitness of his principal (11 minutes into the interview), Shettima said “Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is even healthier than me; you see, number one, he doesn’t have diabetes, I have diabetes”.
Shettima added that “He (Tinubu) does not have high blood pressure,” then takes a pause, and goes on to speak about talks about Tinubu having Parkison’s.
“Talking about this matter of early onset of Parkinson’s or what do we call it, I swear, if he (Tinubu) gets enough sleep that will be enough,” Shettima, 56, said in the Hausa language.
These statements show Kashim Shettima admitting to being diabetic, but nowhere in the interview did he say of confirm “he is sick and unfit” to be the nation’s vice president, as the post claims.
VERDICT
The claim by @itzz_blitz1 is a misleading interpretation of what Shettima said in the interview. While he admitted to being diabetic, he did not say nor confirm that he is “sick and unfit” to run for office. Nigeria’s former president Olusegun Obasanjo was diabetic throughout his eight years in office. Obasanjo said in 2021 that he had been diabetic for 35 years. While Shettima said Tinubu does not have high blood pressure, he did not explicitly say he (Shettima) was battling the same illness.
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