Compulsory COVID-19 Vaccination Plan Is ‘Medical Tyranny’ — Cleric Warns FG
BY CHINYERE OBIORA, LAGOS – A Nigerian cleric and convener of the Apostolic Christianity Network, Apostle Moses Oludele Idowu says it is ‘medical tyranny’ for the Federal Government to insist on a compulsory COVID-19 vaccination plan for all Nigerians.
He also said the government has no moral and legal rights to force or impose sanctions on those citizens refusing the COVID-19 vaccine even when it is made available to all in the country.
Speaking at a media briefing in Lagos, Apostle Idowu faulted the government’s decision to make the vaccine compulsory for civil servants, saying that the plan is, “wrong-headed, lawless and atrocious. It is a policy that is morally flawed, scientifically baseless, ethically unsound, and logically absurd”.
He stated that the harm and deaths already caused by the virus as well as the collateral damages due to the side effects of vaccination and medical practices are enough for the government to think through its policy.
The Cleric noted that “Austria is on lockdown presently to force the unvaccinated to get the jab. If the vaccine is a protection against the virus why do people who already got the vaccine to be protected from the unvaccinated?
“The State of Israel is fast closing in on a 100% vaccination rate yet it also has some of the highest rates of new infections. India, South Africa, Brazil, and the United Kingdom participated actively in the clinical trials toward the development of vaccines in 2019. Alas, it is in those countries that new and more virulent variants of the virus are now emerging.
According to him; “Germany is in the midst of the highest spread of COVID-19 since December of last year. Yet, Germany is the most challenging country in Europe for mitigation and mandates, the only country that has launched an offensive against those who are not vaccinated.”
Further supporting his position with facts and figures, the Clergy said; “80% of Germans adhere to the masking requirements at all times, higher than the US (60%). Germany also has one of the highest vaccination rates in the world (67%).
“In spite of all these, however, Germany’s new case rate has skyrocketed to levels never seen since the outbreak of pandemic; from 4,767,033/ day to 4,782,5468.”
The Preacher, in urging the government to respect people’s rights to decide on taking the vaccine or not, also said; “The Nigerian Patient’s Bill of Rights launched by the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo on July 31, 2018, provides for twelve basic rights for Nigerian Patients”, noting that theses include; “The right to decline care and the right to decline or participate or accept to participate in medical research”.
For him, the government cannot stop people from their work on the basis of compulsory vaccination because it would be “violating established laws and conventions. To deprive a man or woman of his livelihood or place him under threats for asserting his fundamental rights and bodily autonomy is not the way of medical science.
“It is medical tyranny. That is going the way of the Nazis, of naked outright fascistic state terrorism. But we know how and where the Nazis ended.”
However, the Apostle, while recommending divine healing as an alternative medication for COVID-19, argued that reasons against compulsory vaccination also include the citizens’ freedom of conscience as well as their rights to practice religion and personal faith in accordance with the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended.
In a media report that went viral on October 14, 2021, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and Chairman, Presidential Taskforce on COVID-19, Boss Mustapha had said; “There will be compulsory COVID-19 vaccination for civil servants with effect from December 1, 2021”.
