Presidential media aide Bayo Onanuga says President Bola Tinubu is not an infallible character immune to slipping and falling, adding that even American presidents have slipped and fallen.

“President Tinubu is not a Superman. He is human like all of us,” Mr Onanuga said, posting a tweet about presidential aide Dada Olusegun dismissing Mr Tinubu’s fall during Democracy Day on Wednesday as a “mild misstep.”

Mr Onanuga said Mr Tinubu’s fall should not distract Nigerians from the 25th Democracy Day celebration, listing U.S. President Joe Biden and his predecessor, Barack Obama, as examples of leaders who had stumbled in public.

“President Biden has had several slips in the last three years. Even the younger Barack Obama slipped while President. Political leaders are human. Slipping should not detract from the import of Democracy Day celebration,” Mr Onanuga said.

Peoples Gazette reported that Mr Tinubu, 72, slipped and fell, hitting his head on the floor of a parade vehicle at Eagle Square, Abuja.

In the run-up to the 2023 presidential election, Mr Tinubu, in reaction to rising concerns about his failing health, had infamously said, “If you hear them saying, can I do it? I am not applying for the job of a gravedigger, not race running. I am not a horse. I am not applying for bricklaying. I went to school to study accountancy and management. 

“I am applying for a job of the brain, intelligent thinking; it is a job for someone who is ready to do things right. I will not let Nigerians down. I have the brain and capacity.”

At one time, Mr Tinubu spent three months in a London hospital where his media office said he underwent knee surgery and took so much time to rehabilitate. 

A video of Mr Tinubu’s dress soaked from behind published by Peoples Gazette two weeks ago elicited fresh rounds of criticism among Nigerians, with many suggesting the APC chieftain is suffering from urinary incontinence. 

Days later, Mr Tinubu’s estranged protégé, Rauf Aregbesola, then-interior minister, derided him at a political rally, saying “won ti n to ara,” a Yoruba expression meaning “they’re already urinating on themselves.”