The media team of Senate President Godswill Akpabio has dismissed reports that he collapsed on Thursday at the colloquium to mark his 61st birthday in Abuja.

Reports had claimed that the former Akwa Ibom governor collapsed during the event and had to be rushed to the National Hospital.

But the media team, in a statement signed by Eseme Eyiboh, debunked the reports, describing the claims as “fictionalised extensions of the Senate President’s assertion of being tired at the end of the programme”.

“The rumours have been fanned by some social media news channels with notoriety for the dissemination of phoney news flashes.

“It is disconcerting that the conjectures on the wellbeing of the Senate President came after he was celebrated by the crème-de-crème of the nation’s leadership at the colloquium that was focused on defining a legislative agenda for Nigeria.

“Akpabio spoke on his feet for more than 30 minutes. As the programme ended and President Bola Tinubu left the venue, his expression to some of those around him that he was tired escalated to a fainting spell or collapse.

“Some adventurous purveyors of lies, in their thrilling escapade of fiction, even claimed that he is currently in a critical condition at the National Hospital, Abuja.

“This is wholly untrue and I declare firmly that besides saying he was exhausted to the hearing of those around him, he was certainly not rushed in a stretcher to the national hospital or indisposed.”