The All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council has accused former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of politicising Nigeria’s Ebola health challenge.
The council made the allegation in a statement issued on Thursday, October 22, 2026, and signed by its spokesperson, Dele Alake.
It criticised a statement attributed to Atiku concerning the Ebola situation, particularly its headline linking Tinubu’s first name to the deadly virus and questioning the utilisation of the ₦10 billion approved for the emergency response.
According to the council, the wordplay was disrespectful to the office of the President and risked turning a serious public health concern into an opportunity for political ridicule.
The council also faulted what it described as a misunderstanding of Ebola transmission.
The PCC explained that the virus has an incubation period of between two and 21 days, with symptoms typically appearing eight to 10 days after exposure.
It maintained that an infected person cannot transmit Ebola before developing symptoms, arguing that this explained why the Nigerian patient was not detected upon arrival at Abuja airport.
The APC council said the infected individual sought medical attention days later, when tests reportedly confirmed the infection.
On the controversy surrounding the ₦10 billion emergency allocation, the council claimed that the funds approved by Tinubu in June remained untouched, adding that the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC), the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and other surveillance agencies had deployed other available resources.
It commended the agencies for strengthening surveillance at entry points and conducting contact tracing involving 44 people linked to the patient.
The council argued that the response demonstrated the importance of effective public health surveillance and called on the opposition to acknowledge the efforts of the authorities.
It also rejected an allegation attributed to Atiku that a ministerial briefing on the health emergency was intended to discourage Nigerians from attending political rallies or voting.
In describing the allegation as speculative, the council challenged the former vice president to provide verifiable evidence, insisting that the briefing did not raise any such issue but appealed to Nigerians to comply with the health protocols announced by the task force.
The statement urged Atiku and his supporters to refrain from politicising public health emergencies, warning that misinformation and irresponsible communication could undermine efforts to contain the disease.
“Nigerians deserve, first of all, protection from the deadly disease,” the council said.
