Apparently troubled by negative reactions to his statement attributing the outbreak of Type C cerebrospinal Meningitis to a direct punishment from God for the sinful acts of Nigerians, Zamfara State governor, Abdulaziz Yari came out quickly to deny it.
In what appeared a careful attempt to save the governor from the folly of his statement, his media managers claimed that at no time did he say “God is punishing Nigerians with the outbreak” and that meningitis was a divine punishment from God for fornication.
The statement went further, “no doubt as a God-fearing man and Muslim, the governor believes in the powers of Allah to inflict whatever punishment He decides on the human race. Fornication should not spread so much in society that it becomes common place and if that happens, Allah promises to inflict on its perpetrators (people) a sickness that would have no cure”.
In order to appreciate whether Yari successfully denied the statements earlier credited to him, it is apposite to reproduce his encounter with State House correspondents at the Villa and not with a BBC Hausa reporter as claimed.
Hear his sermon “What we used to know as far as meningitis is concerned is the Type A virus. 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 concerned, adding there is no way fornication will be so rampant and God will not send a disease that cannot be cured”.
Apart from denying having said specifically that God sent the Type C virus to punish Nigerians for their sinful ways, there is no substantial difference between his denial statement and the one earlier credited to him. This is evident from the similarities in his claim that where there is rampant fornication, “God will send a disease that cannot be cured”. He did not deny this. The inference from the link between the pervasiveness of fornication and God sending a disease that has no cure as a punishment is that Type C virus is part of the punishment of God to this country for rampant fornication.
So what is there to deny when everything is put in context.
Why is he talking of the wrath of God? What is the link between fornication and the outbreak of Type C virus if not an attempt to establish a causal relationship? The purport of the analogy cannot be any other than rationalize the seeming helplessness of the state government in responding to the debilitating challenges of the pandemic. If his comparison has nothing to do with the reason for the outbreak of the deadly disease, there would have been no reason for him to raise it when confronted with reporters’ question on the virus outbreak.
It would appear Yari came up with this excuse in the face of strident criticisms of his government’s inability to take proactive steps to control the spread despite warnings from relevant agencies. This is more so given that Zamfara is worst hit by the rampaging effects of the scourge.
At the last count, more than 300 people have been reported dead in the state even as several others are receiving treatment in various hospitals. The scary situation prompted the state chapter of the Nigerian Medical Association NMA to accuse the state government of negligence given copious warnings on the impending outbreak.
It would therefore seem Yari delved into the realm of religion to get away from the obvious inaction of his government in controlling the scourge.
Given the above, this column views his rebuttal as an afterthought. The reason proffered by the governor for the outbreak of Type C Meningitis in this country is nothing but an alibi for not doing the needful after several warnings.
Yet, that is not to dispute the awesome powers of God or the fact that there is much iniquity in this country. That could as well be.
But this perspective is of very limited value in accounting for the prevalence of the disease in some countries as opposed to others. It cannot also explain why the pandemic is so acute in Zamfara and a few northern states and not in others.
Neither can it be claimed that states that suffer more from the outbreak of the disease are more of fornicators than areas it is less prevalent. There is nothing to sustain that contention.
There must be other reasons for the pattern of spread than what Yari wants to feed us with. There is also no evidence to show that evil life, the type fingered for the spread of incurable diseases, is more rampant either in Nigeria or Zamfara to attract the heavy casualty that has been recorded so far.
Whereas it can be admitted that the Type C virus is relatively new on these shores, it is not true it is entirely strange to the world. Vaccines for its combat had long been developed. That we do not have them in sufficient quantity may be partly because the disease has been alien to these shores. Yes, we are conversant with the Type A strand that our people are usually vaccinated against.
With the world becoming a global village, it is to be expected that this will come with its positive and negative sides. Practices, habits and diseases that were hitherto alien to us will find their ways into our territory as people interact and mingle together. That is why countries demand certain degree of health certification from foreigners entering into their territory. That is why inoculation is required for Yellow fever et al.
Medical records are replete with behaviours that aid the spread of viral and bacterial meningitis which are considered contagious. Both can be transmitted through droplets of respiratory secretions during close contact such as kissing, sneezing or coughing on someone. Viral meningitis is most commonly spread through faecal contamination. The risk of infection can be decreased by changing the behaviours that lead to transmission.
The point here is that these diseases have always been around the world. That they are not known to have infected this country does not in any way whittle down the fact of their existence. What is important is that at each point they rear up their ugly heads, relevant governments and agencies take appropriate measures to stem their spread.
That is the minimum expected of the Zamfara State government in the instant case. And that was exactly the case with the outbreak of the Ebola virus in this country which has since been controlled. It had nothing to do with either fornication or the sinful acts of the people of this country.
The position of Yari is not entirely surprising. Before now, we had been treated to such convoluted and ill-informed perspectives with the immunization programme. We cannot forget in a hurry the controversy that dogged that programme because of dubious interpretations given it by some governments. Hiding under religion and some other mundane suspicions, some of the governments have had cause to take actions that are at once, in contradiction with the demands of modern civilization.
It is not surprising that people of states where such warped reasoning hold sway, have been at the lowest rung of the ladder in taking advantage of the successes of modern science. Little wonder the disparities in the development matrix between sections of this country. Yari can do better by accepting the realities of the scourge rather than seek escapism through moral and religious precepts.
It is very refreshing the federal government has come out boldly to refute any link between the spread of the virus and punishment from God for our sinful acts.
