COVID-19: Safety should be our priority, Lukman tells Soyinka, Adegboruwa, others

Director-General of the Progressive Governors’ Forum, Salihu Lukman has faulted the indictment of President Muhammadu Buhari’s order on the lockdown of Abuja, Lagos and Ogun states as part of measures to combat the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

Nigerian Tribune reports that Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka and human rights activist, Ebun Olu-Adegboruwa had in separate statements accused Buhari of taking a unilateral pronouncement without recourse to the National Assembly vested with the statutory power to give legal to the enforcement of the two weeks lockdown. The main opposition party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) also spoke in a similar vein.

But reacting in a statement, the Director-General of the Forum of APC governors insisted that Nigerians should consider the sincerity of purpose that informed the action of President Buhari, not perceived infraction on the Constitution.

Lukman said: “Clearly, these responses completely ignore the gravity of the challenges and imagine that the problems can be reduced to politics and legal arguments. They all miss the point, very conveniently, that the world, including Nigeria, is fighting a war that is a threat to human life in a manner that the world has never experienced before. It is an unconventional challenge such that the enemy, COVID-19, doesn’t respect politics, legality or recourse to any form of interest. It was in fact in recognition of this that the President declared that we are all as individuals the ‘greatest weapon to fight’ the war.

“After all the hue and cry, prior to the President’s broadcast, lamenting the slow responses from the government in taking measures to protect citizens against the spread of the virus in the country, one would have expected some attempt to direct attention in the country to strengthen the capacity of the government to succeed in containing the spread of the virus. Or could PDP be arguing that there are other more effective measures to contain the spread of the virus, which the President has failed to take? Or could Mr Adegboruwa be implying that there are legal provisions that could be invoked that would ensure containment of the spread of the virus while at the same time respecting the rights of citizens to move freely?

“Why should we, as Nigerians, be so unfair to ourselves and our leaders to the extent that it would appear we have lost sight of the fact that to be rational and logical, is first and foremost to ensure the protection of life. Once human life is at risk, we must take every step required to safeguard human life. Coincidentally, this was the point amplified by Lee Hsien Loong, the Singaporean Prime Minister, on the same day of President Buhari’s broadcast, while featuring on CNN Global Public Square hosted by Fareed Zakaria.

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“We deceive ourselves to imagine that some of us are free from the virus, on account of which we could be tempted to politicise the problem or indulge in legal arguments. Besides, one will be tempted to ask what legal process did we invoke either as pro-democracy activists or as unionists when we declared sit-at-home under Campaign for Democracy (CD) and Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in 1993, 2000 and in all the cases of our protest campaigns against the military and increases in petroleum prices?

“If the law gives us the right to protest, did we really follow the processes provided under the law to prosecute all our sit-at-home campaigns? Mr Adegboruwa, being an active participant and leader in some of those campaigns may want to humbly reflect on some of those realities and candidly reassess his position about the so-called legal requirement for restriction of movement in Abuja, Lagos and Abeokuta,” Lukman said.

The Director-General of the PGF called for concerted effort to address the scourge rather than what he called animosity towards the person of President Buhari.

“It is important that as citizens we recognise that at this stage, what is required is not politics but capacity to take initiative. If we are not satisfied with the initiatives of the government, rather than seek to undermine governmental initiatives, can we come up with our initiatives to stop the spread of the virus? Or are we arguing that governmental initiatives are weakening our capacity to come up with our initiatives?

“In some ways, the issue of initiatives from citizens and non-governmental organisations is hardly the focus. Otherwise, how can we justify many of the responses from Nigerians who seem to indulge themselves with the inconsiderate political belief that COVID-19 is President Buhari’s problem? Whichever initiative the President proposes will be dismissed,” Lukman added.