President-elect Bola Tinubu Travels To Europe For Medical Care

Nigeria's President-elect and All Progressives Congress (APC)'s leader, Bola Tinubu, is seeking medical care in Europe after falling ill.

"Tinubu has left for Europe for medical care. He fell ill after voting on Saturday during the Lagos guber election," a source told SaharaReporters on Wednesday. "He was attended to by local doctors but he has left for Europe for proper medical care."

The source further shared that Tinubu initially wanted the doctors to come down to Nigeria to treat him. However, he left Tuesday night due to his health.

"He initially said his doctors should be brought down to Nigeria for him, and that when things die down, he would leave," the source explained to the outlet. "But I've confirmed that he left last night (Tuesday night) because he is definitely ill."

The source also disclosed that his "plane Falcon 9X with registration number VP-CBT can't be tracked by air flight tracking websites."

Tinubu's spokesman Bayo Onanuga admitted that the 70-year-old president-elect went abroad for resting purposes and will return to Nigeria soon. "He traveled to rest after the hectic electioneering," Onanuga told The Gazette on Wednesday. "Will soon return home."

Tinubu's traveling abroad for medical reasons isn't something new as previously he was rushed to London in January 2022. After returning from his trip to London, he attended a public gathering, where his dress was visibly soaked from behind when he stood up from the sofa.

The video of the public gathering was shared on Twitter:

Later in September last year, Tinubu seemingly wore a catheter bag at a public event, as per Peoples Gazette.

The former governor of Lagos State said ahead of presidential elections that he is mentally strong, if not physically.

"Some ignorant people have been standing before you. I am not running for 100 or 500 yards, I am running for the presidency," he said, Vanguard reported. "I am not competing in WWE wrestling. If I go out there, they will say I am sick. I am standing before you. Do I look like a sick man? Vote for me, they will stop complaining. I am smarter than they are."

Tinubu's news of leaving for Europe came after Labour Party (LP)'s presidential candidate, Peter Obi filed a petition in Abuja on Tuesday against Tinubu's victory in the presidential elections, held on Feb. 25.

In the petition filed, Obi mentioned that Tinubu was not qualified to run for the elections, claiming that Tinubu has been involved in narcotics trafficking.

Tinubu won the election with 8,794,726 votes while Obi came third as he received 6,101,533 votes. People's Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Atiku Abubakar, who was also running for the presidential election, received 6,984,520 votes.

A source close to the LP party disclosed that the 61-year-old former governor of Anambra State filed the petition four weeks after election results because he was busy gathering all the facts to support his claims.