The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused the Presidency of not ‘being alive’ to its responsibilities by failing to take necessary steps to avoid the entrance of Coronavirus into the country.
Nigerians woke up to the news on Friday that the first case of the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was brought into the country by an Italian.
According to the Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire who confirmed the development, the Italian citizen whose identity is yet to be revealed, works in Nigeria and just returned from Milan on the 25th of February 2020.
Dr Ehanire explained that travelers were not isolated due to the recommendation of the World Health Organisation (WHO), adding that the United Nations agency stated that newly arrived travelers should also be advised to stay in isolation for 14 days, in the interest of their family and loved ones.
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The PDP in a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, on Friday, berated the Buhari Presidency for its negligence and laidback attitude, stressing that “a responsive and proactive government would have mobilized effective surveillance and screening measures to ward off the menace.”
The party noted that the welfare of Nigerians should be highly placed, but no concrete steps were taken to hedge the country against the virus, leading to the current scary situation.
“The PDP notes that a responsive and proactive government would have mobilized effective surveillance and screening measures to ward off the menace, particularly at our entry points, but the incompetent, insensitive and indifferent Buhari administration, was more interested in propaganda and unnecessary showboating with false performance claims.
“The PDP said Nigerians should directly hold the Buhari Presidency responsible should any national calamity arose from COVID-19 in addition to the economic and security challenges its negligence had caused our nation.”
The PDP also added that Nigerians can no longer move freely across their country for fear of insurgents, bandits, kidnappers, and now coronavirus.
“The PDP, therefore, calls on Nigerians not to despair but stir up the Nigerian resilient spirit for an urgent, multi-sectoral concerted effort by agencies, groups, corporate entities, and public-spirited individuals to immediately curb the disease before it spreads, particularly given the prevalent security, economic and humanitarian challenges in the country.
“The party called on the Federal Government to end its cosmetic attitude and immediately adopt the proactive strategy used by the PDP administration to promptly contain the Ebola Virus disease in 2014,” the statement read in parts.
