Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki has charged the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) to set the required guidelines for regulating the conduct of political rallies and elections in the face of the country’s pandemic of coronavirus (COVID-19) as political parties prepared to hold primary elections in Edo State.
The governor made the submission after receiving the NCDC Director General, Chikwe Ihekweazu, at Government House in Benin City , the capital of the Edo State.
Mr Obaseki urged the NCDC to support the state in developing a framework for checking the virus spread as political parties hold their primary elections. Nigeria has recorded 19, 147 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 487 deaths in 35 states and the Federal Capital Territory, since the index case in February.
“Constitutionally, we need to have an election. Electioneering has always been done in a certain way over the years. How do we, in the light of COVID-19 as a state, control the spread of this virus? How do we balance the political exigencies with our public health reality? We expect to get guidance from you as we cannot be totally apolitical. We need third parties to be able to authenticate public health messages that need to be observed during this period,” he said.
The governor expressed appreciation to the NCDC and other stakeholders for the support to the state in the wake of the pandemic, noting, “We understand the pressures you are facing in terms of the national response and therefore, as much as possible, we try to play our own little part and not add to the pressures.”
He said the response from the state government is based on key strategic pillars, which include a strong framework for governance. “I want to thank you. You have been a resource pool in terms of our response. We have used your guidelines and models in establishing our governance framework with the various pillars. We have also integrated the incidence management framework which you have provided. We have developed the required human capital, facilities, and the logistics support to move people around the place. We couldn’t have done these without the knowledge and support from you.”
Mr. Ihekweazu, for his part, said that the state government has done creditably well in handling the state pandemic, noting, “There have been a number of infectious diseases challenges around here, but it is not the challenges that have brought me, but the response to it. Your Excellency, you have really worked with your team across the board to confront those challenges and work for our people.
“I am really proud to be here and I have attended a number of online sessions with you. When you invited me to attend the last Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) meeting, I thought it was just to do a ceremonial five minutes appearance and leave, but when I saw you chairing the EOC for two hours, it became difficult for me to leave. It does show the level of personal involvement and time you have taken in your response and it shows the kind of leadership the new Nigeria requires to move forward especially when we have complex problems like this.”
He added that the NCDC is going around for fact-finding in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) to understand the challenges and opportunities of tracking the spread of the virus in order to provide the requisite strategic support.
Elections are scheduled to take place on September 19 in Edo State, whereas primaries of the varying parties would be held earlier.
