By Balarabe Oshiafi
A Solicitor and Advocate of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, Collins Ugwunebo, has charged political parties on the necessity in subjecting their candidates to medical examination ahead of forthcoming elections.
The charge is coming in the face of controversies surrounding the health status of the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The lawyer averred that it is not only academic and professional credentials that should be screened by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and respective political parties but the health condition of those seeking elective offices.
“I’m not referring to any body but given the realities of the developmental challenges confronting us, we need a President who is not only astute but who is healthily okay. Nigeria needs to run to alleviate the sufferings of the people and not to crawl. An ailing President will make us to continue to crawl”, Barrister Ugwunebo said.
The lawyer posited that a President is a human emblem of a country and it’s chief representative in all spheres.
‘”Let me give a very simplistic example. If President Muhammadu Buhari is coming out of an aircraft or entering it, can anyone including his wife go before him? His entire followers cannot be outside. He is number one Leader, literally speaking. So development will be crawling if the President is crawling”, Ugwunebo said.
He insisted that in the era of global best practices, it is expedient that Nigeria hurriedly matches up with developed nations of the world, especially given her potentials.
