Governor Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara State has
said that the ongoing outbreak of Type C Cerebrospinal Meningitis is God’s way
of showing his anger against Nigerians for turning their back on him.
Mr. Yari said this on Tuesday while speaking
with journalists at the presidential Villa Abuja shortly after meeting with
President Muhammdu Buhari.
Zamfara state is the worst hit since the
outbreak of the disease, with over 200 persons killed and several others
receiving treatment at various state hospitals and clinics.
The Nigeria Medical Association in Zamfara had
last weekend accused the governor of failing to prepare for the outbreak despite
warnings, and not responding adequately to the epidemic.
Some residents, who also spoke to newsmen over
the weekend, accused the government of “neglect”.
Mr. Yari however said the outbreak might not be
unconnected to the people’s total disregard of God’s commandments.
“What we used to know as far as meningitis is
concerned is the type A virus. The World Health Organisation, WHO, has carried
out vaccinations against this type A virus not just in Zamfara, but many other
states.
“However, because people refused to stop their
nefarious activities, God now decided to send Type C virus, which has no
vaccination.
“People have turned away from God and he has
promised that ‘if you do anyhow, you see anyhow’ that is just the cause of this
outbreak as far as I am concerned.
“There is no way fornication will be so rampant
and God will not send a disease that cannot be cured,” the governor said.
Dispelling insinuations that his government
failed to act accordingly, Mr. Yari said he called an emergency meeting
comprising of all top state and local government officials and traditional
rulers, adding that “the meeting came out with a strategy to be adopted and the
money required to deal with the outbreak and a lot of work is going on”.
The governor said relevant organisations across
the globe had announced that there were only 5 million doses of the vaccine
against the Type C virus. “That is not enough for Zamfara people alone, not to
talk of Katsina or Kano,” he said.
He said Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Health
has only 50,000 doses of the vaccine, out of which 20,000 was given to Zamfara
state because of the high rate of the disease in the state.
“Our focus as a state now is to continue
treating those who are infected with the disease, but as for vaccination, it
has an international dimension.
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