The former Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the last general elections, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar on Friday counselled Nigerians not be panic over the reported case of coronavirus in the country.
In a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja by the former Vice President, he declared that Nigeria would defeat the deadly disease as witnessed in the case of Ebola virus in 2014.
According to him, “Nigeria must not panic. Whether at government or individual levels. We have defeated Ebola before and we can defeat this present predicament
“Now that Nigeria has had her first confirmed case of the coronavirus infestation, via a citizen of Italy, who visited Lagos and Ogun States; I would want to offer my patriotic counsel to the government of Major General Muhammadu Buhari, on how best to tackle this issue.
“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”.
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The PDP Chieftain counselled that with a unity of purpose and determination of Nigerians, the nation would defeat the virus.
According to him, “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 temporary, 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
“This crisis is an opportunity to show that we are first and foremost Nigerians and that we have no other country but our own dear fatherland, which we must work together to keep healthy and secure.”
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