ABUJA (Reuters) – Nigeria’s president-elect Bola Tinubu on Wednesday dismissed Nigerian media reports of ill health, his campaign saying he had travelled abroad to rest and plan his transition programme after a “very exhaustive” presidential election campaign.
Tinubu’s health is being closely watched in a country where a former president died in office after a long illness and incumbent Muhammadu Buhari routinely travels abroad for medical checks and in early 2017 spent three months on medical leave in Britain for an unspecified ailment.
Tinubu’s victory in last month’s disputed presidential poll is being challenged in court by two of his closest opponents.
The 70-year-old former governor of commercial hub Lagos had appeared frail during some campaign appearances, his speech often slow and slurred, but he repeatedly brushed aside concerns about his health.
“After a very exhaustive campaign and election season, president-elect, Asíwájú Bola Tinubu, has travelled abroad to rest and plan his transition programme ahead of May 29, 2023 inauguration,” campaign spokesperson Tunde Rahman said in a statement.
Tunde did not say where Tinubu had travelled to but said he would be back soon.
(Reporting by Felix Onuah, writing by MacDonald Dzirutwe; editing by Grant McCool)
