A group called Social Rehabilitation Group has condemned the actions of a Peoples Democratic Party chieftain, Dino Melaye, at the party’s campaign rally in Asaba, Delta State’s capital.
The group claimed that Melaye’s dancing and falling on the podium during the rally was a mockery of the health of the All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, and described Melaye’s actions as a display of shame.
This was stated in a statement released on Wednesday by the group’s National Coordinator and Convener, Dr. Marindoti Oludare.
In the statement, Oludare advised Nigerians to disregard the PDP chieftain’s actions, saying it was repugnant for the PDP to make fun of people suffering from health issues.
He said, “I just saw a video of PDP making jest of Asiwaju’s health condition. We all know brother Dino didn’t know better. But the vice-presidential candidate of the PDP, Governor Tambuwal, Dr. Andy Uba, and other PDP stalwarts found this show of shame amusing.
“This shows that PDP is a travesty of a party. These are a bunch of crass ass politicians. They feel it’s right to make jest of people living with health conditions.
“There are Nigerians whose fathers, mothers, and children have died of a stroke. Two of my friends last year had a heart attack. Two have had strokes that they recovered from, and they are in their mid-30s.
“But PDP feels the pains and suffering of these people with medical conditions are amusing. They are amused with people with polio, people with cerebral palsy, and people with tremors. They think it’s funny.”
He explained that Asiwaju’s health challenge was not such that had incapacitated him, stressing that all human beings have one health challenge or the other.
Oludare, a medical doctor, however, noted that the APC presidential candidate is mentally stable and capable of ruling Nigeria “to deliver on his robust ideas of bringing about a new Nigeria.”
He also expressed the conviction that Tinubu, if elected, would transform Nigeria’s health sector as he demonstrated when he was governor of Lagos State.