COVID-19: Afenifere faults timing of Buhari’s lockdown order

Pan Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, has faulted the timing of President Mohammadu Buhari’s order for a lockdown to be observed in Lagos, Abuja and Ogun States in a bid to stem the spread of COVID-19.

The group said in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Yinka Odumakin issued on Monday that people should have been given a few days’ notice to prepare for the shutdown.

“While we agree that a lockdown is necessary at this point, it should not have been done as if we were shutting down a barrack under 24 hours,” the group observed in the statement.

Afenifere also picked holes in the president’s broadcast, saying the only thing new in the speech is the lockdown of Lagos, Ogun and the Federal Capital Territory. Odunakin stated: “Afenifere has taken note of the overdue presidential broadcast on Covid – 19.

“We honestly cannot fathom why it took so long for such to come as the only thing new in it was locking down FCT, Lagos and Ogun states.

“The rest of the broadcast are about washing hands and sneezing on elbows and handkerchiefs which can only still be useful to the Senator removing his face mask to sneeze for the consumption of his colleagues at this point.

“It is a big shame that a rich country like Nigeria has been badly run over the years and up till the time we issued this that it cannot afford any serious stimulus package for its citizens beyond moratorium for N-power earners.

“By the way, we do not understand where the president was asking the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs to go and get students to be feeding with School Feeding Programme when all students in the country are at home,” the statement by the group added.