A Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Salihu Lukman has expressed misgivings over the description of President Muhammadu Buhari’s nationwide speech on coronavirus as empty by the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Immediately after President Buhari addressed the nation on Sunday, PDP through its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiya described the President’s speech as “empty and failed to address the salient demands of the impact of the scourge (of COVID-19) on the nation.”
Lukman who is also the Director-General of Progressive Congress Forum (PGF) in a statement in Abuja, equally faulted Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) for condemning some of the measures announced by the President.
These measures include restriction of movements in Abuja, Lagos, and Ogun which Adegboruwa described as illegal, arguing that the President “has not invoked his powers under the Constitution to declare any state of emergency, which must be approved by the National Assembly.”
According to the APC Chieftain, “these responses completely ignore the gravity of the challenges and imagine that the problems can be reduced to politics and legal arguments.
“They all miss the point, very conveniently, that the world, including Nigeria, is fighting a war that is a threat to human life in a manner that the world has never experienced before.
“It is an unconventional challenge such that the enemy, COVID-19, doesn’t respect politics, legality or recurse to any form of interest. It was in fact in recognition of this that the President declared that we are all as individuals the ‘greatest weapon to fight’ the war.
“After all the hue and cry, prior to the President’s broadcast, lamenting the slow responses from the government in taking measures to protect citizens against the spread of the virus in the country, one would have expected some attempt to direct attention in the country to strengthen the capacity of the government to succeed in containing the spread of the virus.
“Or could PDP be arguing that there are other more effective measures to contain the spread of the virus, which the President has failed to take? Or could Mr. Adegboruwa be implying that there are legal provisions that could be invoked that would ensure containment of the spread of the virus while at the same time respecting the rights of citizens to move freely?
“Why should we, as Nigerians, be so unfair to ourselves and our leaders to the extent that it would appear we have lost sight of the fact that to be rational and logical, is first and foremost to ensure the protection of life. Once human life is at risk, we must take every step required to safeguard human life”.
Lukman also prayed for the speedy recovery of the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari, Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed and all those infected by COVID-19 in the country.
He pleaded with Almighty God to endow humankind with the knowledge and wisdom to produce a cure for the virus.
Speaking further the PGF Boss said: “We deceive ourselves to imagine that some of us are free from the virus, on account of which we could be tempted to politicise the problem or indulge in legal arguments. Besides, one will be tempted to ask what legal process did we invoke either as pro-democracy activists or as unionists when we declared sit-at-home under Campaign for Democracy (CD) and Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in 1993, 2000 and in all the cases of our protest campaigns against the military and increases in petroleum prices?
“If the law gives us the right to protest, did we really follow the processes provided under the law to prosecute all our sit-at-home campaigns? Mr. Adegboruwa, being an active participant and leader in some of those campaigns may want to humbly reflect on some of those realities and candidly reassess his position about the so-called legal requirement for restriction of movement in Abuja, Lagos and Abeokuta.
“As for PDP, we can argue with some confidence that the position of Mr. Ologbondiya is not shared by the PDP leadership especially Alh. Atiku Abubakar and PDP Governors. This is because Alhaji Abubakar has already demonstrated his commitment to support the Federal Government to win the fight against Covid-19 for which he has already contributed N50 million. p
“In the same vein, PDP Governors are working in partnership with Federal Government and all Governors in the country, irrespective of party affiliations to role out uniform initiatives in all our states under the coordination of Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF).
“Without any hesitation, it could be argued that PDP Governors are not playing politics with the challenge of fighting COVID-19 in the country. We are all very encouraged for the inspiring leadership of Alh. Atiku Abubakar and PDP Governors for rising to the national challenge of teaming up with all Nigerians irrespective of party lines.
“Just as we try to emphasise the need to support our governments in the fight against Covid-19, we need to remind ourselves that at the moment the recognised best practice across the world is testing, contact tracing and isolation. There are realities that all governments across the world are facing, which include the small number of testing equipment.
“This has accounted for why as at Sunday, March 29, 2020, less than 500 (in fact less than 300) tests have been carried out in the country, which is partly being used by some critics to suggest that the number of confirmed cases is only 111 because of the low number of those who have been tested. Some even argue that we have only one death because of that”.
