By Mr. President, Nigeria is Bleeding by Yusuf Temilola NURUDEEN, Esq.
Sometime last week a young lady was interviewed in somewhere in of Lagos State. Her reaction was to the initial partial lockdown announced by Lagos State Government as a measure to contain the spread of the virus. The lady retorted “…so please, I am bleeding for our Governor, our President. They ought to, they can, as in, I am bleeding. So, I am on my knee… they can help us. Corolla virus is something…. as in… I am hearing it right now at Mushin there, are you hearing now? I think you are hearing? The crowd is a lot. Many people is shouting for hungry, for eating…”.
I also joined in the frail and made a mockery of the lady because she couldn’t put the words together properly. But, the position that the young lady maintained is the sad reality today. Are we not bleeding? Can’t you hear the crowd shouting? Don’t we have hunger in land? General Muhammadu Buhari don’t tell me you cannot feel the pulse of Lagos and Ogun State. Even if you do, we will not take that from you.
As I write, the attendant insecurity occasioned by the total lockdown is staring us. Sir, you have botched your part of the social contract by failing to provide palliatives that commensurate the lockdown, and as it were, a relative stable power supply to differentiate the lockdown from detention. The desperation of the idle youth population has boiled over. Since Friday, we have experienced serial cases of daylight armed robbery in more than ten (10) areas in Lagos State concurrently. Ogun State too has its own fair share of the unrest. Meanwhile, the people have resorted to self-help. They have formed themselves into vigilante groups brandishing all sorts of weapons to protect their lives and property.
What is more? Sir! You have again failed us in the primary responsibility of the government which we have entrusted you with. That is, the security and welfare of the people of Nigeria. I think this should have been the time when the civil security architecture is not overburdened. Then, we couldn’t have been able to help the situation we found ourselves today more importantly when the Secretary to the Government of the Federation never knew Nigeria’s healthcare infrastructure is in such bad state, the Health Minister see no reason to pay or insure medical officers and the Police are hard-working in their extortionate practices. Sir, this is an upshot of your paltry budgetary allocation of less than 8% to health Sector, education and youth development from 2016 till date. Mr. President, these boys are no longer begging. They are demanding menacingly with weapon.
Sir, I can see the fear in your face. You are terrified by this situation. You cannot look us in the eyes and tell us the sad truth. Maybe that is why your tards took to Twitter to admonish Nigerians on Saturday 11th of April, 2020, to continue to endure the unfriendly sufferings courtesy of your approaches, dispositions and attitude to issues of national importance. General Buhari, you need to man-up. Those Tweets cannot be taken for an exercise of your powers under the Quarantine Act. As it is, we are in a state of quandary as to the extension of the lockdown that ended yesterday.
Yes! You have brought this suffering on us. COVID-19 was already in more than Sixty (60) countries before 27th of February, 2020 when we recorded the first case of an Italian Citizen who returned to Nigeria on 25th of February, 2020. Yet, you did not order restrictions of flight till 25th of March, 2020, when your daughter and others of top government functionaries and politicians arrived the country infected with the virus. Before now, all reported cases of COVID-19 were imported. You could have intensified contact tracing and indexing of all returnees within the last 30 days using the airlines manifests. You should have invited them and treated any case of disobedience as an enemy of the State.
Sir, I understand that we are dealing with a pandemic that have changed human history in less than Hundred (100) days and that the lockdown has to be maintained to contain the spread of corona virus but, the people are hungry. Your people need food. If you do not consider them now, the next ten (10) days will not be funny. There is anger in the land, the tension is palpable, tempers have risen across board, any extension or prolongation of the lockdown without a watertight mechanism or provisions to cushion the effects, would most likely spell doom at the long run. Let us avoid socio-economic Armageddon!
Signed:
Yusuf Temilola NURUDEEN, Esq.
Associate, The LegalHub Partnership,
Ikeja, Lagos.
E-mail: [email protected]
Telephone: 08081023327
