Bola Tinubu, the national leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has admonished Nigerians to come together and defeat the deadly coronavirus pandemic saying the disease has no respect for wealth, status, region or religious affiliations.
The former Lagos state governor, in a statement released to mark his 69th birthday ceremony said while the rich cannot bargain with the virus to pay it off, the poor also are also at its mercy as it doesn’t care about one’s hardship.
Tinubu who also said the Coronavirus doesn’t discriminate between a Northerner or Southerner also added that it has dispelled the myth by some people that Africans are immune to it due to our weather conditions.
The foremost imperative is that we recognize that corona is here. We must cast aside the myths that we have comforted ourselves with these past weeks. We told ourselves this was not a black man’s disease. We took false comfort in this self-deception.
“Well, black people have contracted the ailment; black people have also died from it.
“We hoped that our hot climate would bake and destroy the virus. That wish now appears too optimistic. We even said our history in dealing with malaria and other tropical diseases granted us some type of immunity.
“Well, I doubt that immunity exists as there is no scientific evidence supporting this claim. If such an immunity exists, it is at most incomplete and so unreliable as to be of no avail to large segments of our population.
The rich cannot bargain with the disease or pay it off. It neither reads bank account statements nor is it intimidated by them. The poor, likewise, are subject to it for it has no mercy nor cares about one’s prior or present hardships. Neither does it seem to study geography. Northerner and Southerner are equally its prey.
“It will attack those who pray at the altar in church as well as those who face the Qiblah when praying in the mosque. To corona, we are all the same. Thus, to fight corona, we must treat each other the same, as brothers and sisters in one national family under one Heaven. For we are of one blood; this crisis is a stark warning that we must begin to act in consonance with that common humanity.
“It is true that we and other African countries are among the nations thus far least affected. However, we must not think this means geography and climate have erected a protective shield on our behalf.
At best, these things constitute a partial barrier that may have slowed but will not prevent the growing threat,” he said.
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