800m trek: Atiku taunts Buhari

Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has taunted President Muhammadu Buhari over the comment that the president is fit for another term because he trekked a distance of 800 meters in Daura, Katsina state, on Tuesday.

President Buhari on Tuesday shunned protocol and opted to trek some 800 metres, from the Eid-el-kabir praying ground in his hometown Daura to his residence.

Garba Shehu, a presidential spokesman, had asked those opposed to Buhari’s second term to look for other issues because by trekking such a distance, Buhari had proven that his health is not a problem.

“He (Buhari) is curious that these days, one or two people who are aspiring to be president are campaigning on their youthfulness and good health.

“I think the president has done one thing today – that the issue is not how old one is but how fit is he; how healthy is he. Now that the president has proven his fitness and well-being to continue in office is a settled matter. I think that if people want to campaign against him they should do so on issue that are of significance to Nigerians. The president is fit, he is healthy; he is good to go.”

But Abubakar, who disagreed with Shehu, his former spokesman, tweeted a picture of himself at the gym and wrote: “I regularly jog more than a mile & exercise, but it will be pedestrian of me to ask Nigerians to vote for me because of that. I want my party – the PDP, and Nigerians, to vote for me because I WORK not because I WALK. I will work to create jobs. I won’t walk to create an illusion.”

He accused the Buhari presidency of trivialising governance by asking Nigerians to vote for President Muhammadu Buhari for a second term next year because he did 800m trekking.

The issue of Buhari’s health has generated controversy, with some of his critics asking the president not to seek another term based on his health condition.

Last year, the president spent over 150 days in London, treating an undisclosed ailment.