COVID-19: We Must Not Play Politics With Vaccines – Gbajabiamila Warns

…Says, Nigerians should rally behind government to fight unseen enemy

BY SEGUN ADEBAYO, ABUJA – Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, has said that only a collective effort devoid of politics and conspiracy theories could guarantee a successful war against the COVID-19 pandemic.

This is as he urged Nigerians to rally behind the Federal Government to fight the Covid-19 pandemic, describing it as “an unseen enemy” causing havoc around the world.

Gbajabiamila, who was speaking in Abuja on Friday during the National Flag-off of Covid-19 vaccination in Nigeria, appealed to the media to pass accurate information about the virus and the vaccines to the public.

He added that the vaccination was an “epical” moment in the history of the country, as Nigeria finally began the journey of fighting a pandemic that ravaged it and changed lifestyles in the last one year.

The Speaker further said; “This is the time for us to rally behind the government. Like the Secretary to the Government of the Federation has said, the virus knows no creed, knows no religion, knows no ethnicity, knows no sex and knows no age.

“So, it is important for all of us to come together as a country to fight the pandemic. As I have often said, we are actually in a war, but in a war with an unseen enemy.

“Therefore, when a country goes to war, you go as one. I want to implore the journalists and implore all Nigerians, therefore, not to give in to conspiracy theories because we will hear them,” he said.

Gbajabiamila also said; “We must not play politics with vaccines; we must not play politics with the health of our neighbour; we must be on the same page whilst we also correct and do what you need to do in terms of your role in checking the government and holding their feet to the fire”.

He commended the efforts of the Presidential Task Force on Covid-19 led by the SGF, Mr Boss Mustapha, for the doggedness with which the members worked in the last one year to contain the virus from spiralling out of control in Nigeria.

He also praised health workers and other frontline personnel glowingly for risking their lives so that the lives of other Nigerians could be saved from the virus.

In keeping with the government’s promise to administer the vaccines to health workers first, Dr. Cyprian Ngom, a physician managing one of the treatment centres in the Federal Capital Territory, made history as the first Nigerian to take the Covid-19 vaccine on Friday.

Nigeria had on March 2 received the first batch of about 4 million Oxford/AstraZeneca jab Covid-19 vaccines and launched the national vaccination against the virus on Friday.