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The Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) has called for mental health tests for President Muhammadu Buhari; former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and all other candidates contesting the 2019 presidential election.

In the demand which was made on Sunday, the coalition said the test should be conducted by an independent team of experts in mental health issues.

The coalition’s demand was contained in a statement by its first national spokesman, Imo Ugochinyere.

Ugochinyere said the test was necessary in order to ascertain the presidential candidates’ mental stability before elections, “so that any person who does not pass the examination should not be allowed to participate in the election.”

He said the CUPP had secured the assurances of Atiku, who is contesting the election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, to subject himself to the medical test in the general interest of Nigeria.

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He urged Buhari to speak more to Nigerians and Nigerian journalists, especially through presidential media chat.

He added, “CUPP also calls on President Buhari to face the Nigerian media and stop holding them in disdain as they are professionals and are renowned world over for their expertise.

“How could a President not speak to any Nigerian media house or journalist for over three years?

“How could a President hold his entire country’s media and citizens in such disdain that he speaks to them only through a crowd of spokespersons?

“Nigerians want to know the identities of the persons that write his speeches, their ideologies and their stake in the Nigerian project because, many a time, the President reads speeches that are not in tune with reality, as he did during the presentation of budget 2019 and was rightly booed by lawmakers.

“This medical examination is very necessary and all Nigerians of goodwill should join this call for the unveiling of the real facts behind this façade presented to Nigerians.”

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