Rabiu Kwankwaso, a former governor of Kano, has asked the
federal government to take over the state’s response on COVID-19.
Kwankwaso, who made the plea in a letter addressed to
President Muhammadu Buhari, accused the state of not managing the disease well.
NigerianEye has been reporting strange deaths in Kano which the
state government attributed to other causes but COVID-19.
In the letter, Kwankwaso said the state has been “in a tug of war” with the Nigeria
Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) since it recorded its first case of the
disease.
The former senator said the state government’s initial
denial of the unusual deaths “has cultivated mistrust and doubt” in the
citizens, accusing it of failing to “provide the desired leadership required at
a critical time like this”.
“At the moment, the state government palliatives are being
distributed based on political patronage (4 persons in each polling unit of 500
persons),” Kwankwaso said.
“The situation in the state should not be seen by Mr.
President as a state government matter that should be left to the state.
“The lives of tens of millions of Nigerians living in Kano
state is at stake, as such the central government should be seen to be actively
involved in caring for, and saving their lives. There is need for empathy.”
The former governor said Kano should reconstitute its
COVID-19 task force — which he said has not been technically disbanded — while
five additional test centres and 10 more sample collection centres should be
set up across the state.
He added: “The Task force should designate trained medical personnel
in all cemeteries across the state that will collect records of all deaths.
While another team of medical personnel follow up with inquiry of the cause of
death.
“Since it is undeniable that there is a spike in the number
of death and it is probable that these deaths are either as a result of
COVID-19 or some other illness, the State Government and citizens should treat
and consider all deaths as if it is caused by the virus; therefore all
protocols as advised by medical experts be observed whenever death occurs;
“An independent Federal Government team of experts should be
mandated to investigate the rise in cases of death in the elderly population
across the State;
“Palliatives should be generous and general. The virus does
not belong to any political party just as hunger and poverty are not partisan.”
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