The fight to curb the spread of COVID-19 and deaths arising from the disease may be far from over as members of civil society organisations and student union bodies in Edo State, on Monday, staged a protest following the state government’s policy of no-COVID-19 vaccination, no-entry into public places.
The Governor Godwin Obaseki-led government had instituted the policy to arrest the spread of the virus and the new Delta variant of the disease.
The protesters, who turned up massively, and armed with placards carrying various inscriptions, grounded human and vehicular movements in the ancient city of Benin, the state capital.
The protesters, while resisting the government’s call for action against the vaccine, urged the government to provide COVID-19 palliative to residents of the state and not vaccines.
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WHAT THIS MEANS:
The development in Edo echoes the happenings in some other states of the federation where COVID-19 vaccination was treated with kid gloves, with the implications being that:
- The protesters, who represented a section of residents of the state, called for the provision of security, and food palliative for the people instead of vaccines.
- Continued efforts by the government to force the vaccination on residents, will amount to the occupation of Government House, government agencies/parastatals and all corporate organistions.
- The Edo State Government has a 48–hour ultimatum to withdraw the compulsory vaccination, or then the economy of the State would be shut down.
In the meantime, the refusal of residents of Edo State to co-operate with the government of the day poses grave danger to the State and slows down the pace of Nigeria’s recovery from the pandemic.
Their refusal to vaccinate will ensure the continuous spread of the disease, while those who are already vaccinated, stand the risk of getting further exposed to unvaccinated persons.
