Members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) caucus in the House of Representatives have criticized the Federal Government over the health crisis and strange deaths in Kano State.
This was made known in a statement signed by the leader of the caucus, Kingsley Chinda, on Monday.
He said, “The very recent reports of unprecedented death of scores of people within few days in Kano State should concern every responsible public office.
“It is apparent that so far, the efforts of the Kano State Government and more particularly that of the Federal Government through the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on Covid-19 seem to have been largely lame, clueless and indeed devoid of any practical solutions.
“We are indeed deeply concerned and worried about this lacklustre stance of the Federal Government in solving and dealing with an important health issue such as this.
“The spectacular failings on the part of managers of this pandemic, diminishes us all as Nigerians regardless of our callings in life,” he stated.
Chinda added that, “Silence in the face of mass deaths of our citizens is nothing but a heinous crime.
“It is important to state that governance at all levels is a serious business, and meant for serious minded persons. We cannot continue to breach with impunity one of the most important provisions of our Constitution that the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government.”
“Thus, the health and welfare of the people must remain paramount at all times and must never be compromised or treated with levity for any reason whatsoever, otherwise, it would amount to an abdication of responsibilities by government and the consequence is avoidable deaths in the society.
“We stand and commiserate with the residents and people of Kano State in this very critical and challenging times.” He revealed.
The statement finally called for an urgent and thorough investigation and practical and affirmative steps by the Federal government into the circumstances surrounding the disturbing mass death in Kano.
It can be recalled that hundreds of people are rumoured to have died in Kano but no official death records are kept.
Grave diggers initially raised concerns that they were burying a higher than usual number of bodies.
Ali, a grave digger at the Abattoir Graveyard, told the BBC: “We have never seen this, since the major cholera outbreak that our parents tell us about. That was about 60 years ago.”
This week, the state governor issued a statement saying the “mysterious deaths” were unrelated to coronavirus.
But after ordering a “thorough investigation into the immediate and remote causes of the deaths”, announced that their preliminary findings “indicated that the deaths are not connected to the Covid-19 pandemic”.
The state government said “reports from the state ministry of health has shown that most of the deaths were caused by complications arising from hypertension, diabetes, meningitis and acute malaria”.
“Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje is earnestly waiting for the final report from the state ministry of health so as to take the necessary action.” Part of the statement read.
