I didn’t collapse, says Alao-Akala

A former Governor of Oyo State, Adebayo Alao-Akala, has dismissed rumours that he collapsed at the venue of the Labour Party National Executive Committee meeting in Ibadan on Wednesday.

Alao-Akala, in a statement by his media aide, Oludare Ogunlana, on Thursday, described the rumour as the handiwork of “detractors who were not comfortable his popularity.”

The statement also said that the Alao-Akala Campaign Organisation had succeeded in tracing the true owners of the website which published the report.

It read, “Based on a false report which emerged online that Alao-Akala had collapsed at the venue of the LP National Executive Committee meeting in Ibadan on Wednesday and was rushed to the hospital, we blame the opposition parties for the publication.

“It is not true that Alao-Akala is battling any form of ailment or that he collapsed at the meeting as reported by an online publication outfit. We challenge the publisher of the news medium to come out openly if the news was true. Why didn’t other journalists who were at the venue get the news?

“The Nigerian Guild of Editors should look into the issue of unregistered news media that spread lies in order to please certain political parties for pecuniary interest.”

Ogunlana also called on the people of the state not to be swayed by the antics of those who were against the aspiration of the former governor, saying that Alao-Akala’s government could not be compared with those that succeeded it.