Former Vice President and 2019 PDP presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has given a patriotic advice to President Muhammadu Buhari over the news of Coronavirus in the country.
It could be recalled that the news of the deadly virus known as COVID-19 entering Nigeria was made known by the Federal Ministry of Health, through the minister of Health, Dr. E. Osagie Ehanire.
According to the minister, the man who brought the virus to Nigeria is an Italian national.
The report however, added that the patients is with no serious symptoms, has been placed in treatment with the Infectious Disease Hospital, Yaba.
“@NCDCGov is working closely with @LSMoH to identify all contacts of the patient. @FMoHNigeria will continue to provide updates”, the minister noted.
Following the news, Atiku said, it’s time to put politics apart and do the needful, which according to him is to save the lives of the citizens.
Below is Atiku’s patriotic opinion…
Now that Nigeria has had her first confirmed case of the Corona Virus infestation, via a citizen of Italy, who visited Lagos and Ogun states, I would want to offer my patriotic counsel to the government of General @MBuhari, on how best to tackle this issue. #coronavirusnigeria
We must call upon our experience with the Wild Ebola Virus, of which we were the first nation in the world to defeat that scourge in 2014. How did Nigeria do it? We achieved it by showing unprecedented unity.
The federal government of the day worked closely with the Lagos and Rivers state governments. There was complete unity, solidarity and oneness of purpose, which created the atmosphere that defeated that deadly infestation.
I strongly counsel that any tendency to blame and point fighters must be temporarily, if not permanently, suspended. If fingers must be pointed, it must be to solutions.
Nigeria needs firm and decisive actions to prevent an escalation of the scourge. Recently, we closed our borders as an act against economic sabotage. Perhaps now is the time to temporarily halt flights to and from any nation with a prevalence of this scourge.
It is more important to secure human lives than to secure an economy. We also need to invest in early detection facilities at our airports.
But above all, Nigeria must not panic. Whether at government or individual levels. We have defeated Ebola before, and we can defeat this present predicament.
This crisis is an opportunity to show that we are first and foremost Nigerians and that we have no other country but our dear fatherland, which we must work together to keep healthy and secure.
God bless Nigeria and her people.
