Coronavirus: Group rejects NGF’s 2 weeks national lockdown decision, threatens to defy order
- Oodua Youth Coalition (OYC) has rejected the NGF's decision to extend COVID-19 lockdown by two weeks
- The NGF had on Wednesday, April 22, agreed to extend the lockdown by two weeks to prevent the spread of the disease
- OYC, however, said that it would defy the directive if something tangible is not done to cushion the effects of the lockdown on the people
Following the decision of the 36 state governors across Nigeria to institute a further two-week national lockdown in the country to curtail the spread of coronavirus, a group, Oodua Youth Coalition (OYC), has registered their displeasures over the plan.
SaharaReporters indicated that the group said any attempt to force the people to remain indoors without adequate preparation for their welfare and well-being would be resisted.
Legit.ng gathered that the 36 state governors had on Wednesday, April 22, recommended a national lockdown for another two weeks in addition to the almost elapsing four-week lockdown in Lagos, Federal Capital Territory and Ogun state to deal with the pandemic.
The chairman of the Nigerian Governors' Forum (NGF) and governor of Ekiti state, Kayode Fayemi, who made the announcement, said the inter-state lockdown became necessary following the continued rise in the number of infected persons and fatalities in the country.
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Reacting to the NGF's decision, the OYC in a statement by its president, Oluyi Akintade Tayo, and its publicity secretary, Ajongbolo Oluwagbenga, said it was disheartening that the governors could agree to lockdown in their respective states without recourse to how the people had been living in hunger since the partial lockdown.
The statement read: "Save for Ondo and Oyo states, the remaining four states in Yoruba land have been on total lockdown for weeks now and the resultant effects are clear to the blind. In Lagos and Ogun, criminals are having field and free days terrorising the people and looting their properties.
"Every night, hungry and angry Nigerians, who should be sleeping soundly in their homes, have turned emergency vigilantes while the ones indoors only sleep with one eye closed.
"Unfortunately, there are reports of unreasonable and unnecessary attacks on innocent citizens by security men stationed on major roadblocks in towns and highways. It was also reported that the Nigerian Security Forces have killed more people than the coronavirus itself.”
The OYC observed that the palliatives being shared around by political office holders and government officials were ridiculous and cannot sustain the people.
According to the group, a further lockdown could lead to chaos in the country that the government may not be able to curtail.
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Meanwhile, Legit.ng had previously reported that the federal government said about 40 health workers tested positive for coronavirus (COVID-19) in the country.
It was reported that this was disclosed by the minister of health, Osagie Ehanire, on Thursday, April 23, during the briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 in Abuja, the nation’s capital.
Ehanire, therefore, appealed to medical workers in the frontline of the COVID-19 fight to always protect themselves while giving treatment to infected patients.
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Source: Legit.ng
