Zamfara State Governor Abdulaziz Yari on Tuesday attributed the ongoing outbreak of Type C Cerebrospinal Meningitis as God’s way of
showing his anger against Nigerians for turning away from him.
According to him, God sent the Type C virus which has no vaccine since Nigerians have refused to stop their criminal activities.
Yari stated this while fielding questions from newsmen at the with State House Abuja, after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari.
“What we used to know as far as meningitis is concerned is the type A virus. The World Health Organisation, WHO has carried out vaccinations against this type A virus not just in Zamfara, but many other states.
“However, because people refused to stop their nefarious activities, God now decided to send Type C virus, which has no vaccination.
“People have turned away from God and he has promised that ‘if you do anyhow, you see anyhow’ that is just the cause of this outbreak as far as I am concern.
“There is no way fornication will be so rampant and God will not send a disease that cannot be cured” the governor said.
Asked if only the people and not their leaders needed repentance, Yari
said “leaders are doing their best by enlightening the populace and
working assiduously for the good of all.
“Your major assignment as a leader is to convey the message; you cannot go from house to House and arrest offenders for instance,” he
said.
Zamfara state is said to be the worst hit since the outbreak of the disease recording over 200 deaths with several others receiving
treatment at various hospitals and clinics.
Last weekend, Medical Doctors under the aegis of Nigeria Medical Association, Zamfara state chapter accused Yari’s government of
failing to prepare for the outbreak despite warnings. They had also accused him of not being proactive enough to combat the outbreak.
However, Yari said he called an emergency meeting comprising of all top state and local government officials and traditional rulers, adding that “the meeting came out with a strategy to be adopted and the money required to deal with the outbreak and a lot of work is
going on”.
According to him, the relevant organisations had announced that there
had only 5 million dose of the vaccine against the Type C virus across
the globe and “that is not enough for Zamfara people alone, not to
talk of Katsina or Kano,”.
However, Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Health is said to have acquired only 50,000 doses of the vaccine, out of which 20,000 has already been given to Zamfara state because of the high rate of the disease in the state.
“Our Focus as a state now is to continue treating those who are infected with the disease, but as for vaccination, it has an
international dimension.
“We have information that Nigeria will get the highest percentage of the 5 million doses available now. Apart from WHO, other International bodies such as the Bill Gates foundation and UNICEF are also currently focusing on how to tackle the outbreak,” he said.
He expressed hope that the outbreak would soon be tackled, but said “the most important thing is for our people to know that their
relationship with God is not smooth. All they need to do is repent and everything will be all right,”.
