Vice President Kashim Shettima has slammed critics of President Bola Tinubu over his health status, saying the president is not preparing for Olympics.
Mr Shettima spoke on Friday at the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) town hall meeting held at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The meeting followed the successful completion of the 90-day Regulatory Reform Accelerator Action Plan
The Vice President said: “We are not asking you not to question the eligibility of your president’s condition. But there is this mischievous vexation about the president’s health status.
“He is not preparing for the Olympics, but an institution that builds on the superiority of ideas. But I dare to put it to you. The hallmark of true leadership is not the ability to lift a bag of cement, but the capacity to come up with robust ideas to solve a nation’s problems. So, this is a man that we need to all rally around, we need to support.”
Nigeria’s inflation has reached new highs, clocking 33.69 per cent in May 2024. But Shettima who acknowledged the difficult economic conditions, says it is not peculiar to the country. He, however, believes in the ability of the Tinubu government to reverse the trend.
He said, “Yes, our economy is going through turbulence but is it confined to Nigeria alone? Let’s take a broadband picture. Is any economy immune from the challenges of the times? So, I urge you to be fair to this poor man.”
“We have never had it so good in terms of leadership. The President means well for the nation and most importantly, imbued with the skill set to drive change and progress in this country,” Shettima said.
“I can tell you with all sense of confidence that the President we have now is a man of ideas who is robustly imbued with the capacity. Leadership is about competence.”