Segun Akanni, Toronto, Canada The Zamfara State Governor, Alhaji Abdulaziz Yari, on Tuesday, attributed the renewed outbreak of meningitis disease, which has claimed many lives in parts of the country, to flagrant disobedience to God.
He said God decided to send the Type C of the disease, which had no vaccine, as punishment for the people for their nefarious activities.
Yari said this in an interview he granted in Hausa shortly after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The governor specifically named fornication as one of the sins which might have made God to inflict the country with the disease.
He said, “What we used to know as far as meningitis is concerned is the Type A virus.
“The World Health Organisation has carried out vaccinations against the 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 the 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.
“There is no way fornication will be so rampant and God will not send a disease that cannot be cured.”
The governor expressed the belief that the epidemic would end once Nigerians decided to repent from their sinful way of life.
“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 alright,” he explained.
He said political leaders were doing their best in educating the people but would not be able to arrest them if they failed to obey.
The governor said his administration was committed to addressing the outbreak, saying he summoned an emergency meeting when it started.
The meeting, according to him, was attended by state and local government officials as well as traditional rulers.
He said there was shortage of vaccine for the Type C strain of meningitis with the five million doses available not enough for Zamfara State alone.
He said the Ministry of Health had only 50,000 doses of the vaccine, adding that 20,000 were given to his state because of the high casualties recorded there.
“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 five 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.
