The right to health of the Nigerian public is far more important than any politicking in any guises at this point in time.
Dear Mr. President,
We have been made aware of the Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN) South-South campaign rally to campaign for your second term, scheduled to hold at the Liberation Stadium, Port Harcourt on Saturday, August 30, 2014.
Mr. President, on Thursday, August 28, 2014, your Minister for Health and the Rivers State Government announced that the deadly Ebola Virus Disease has hit Rivers State with one dead, and scores of other suspected contacts quarantined.
As we have all come to know, Ebola has become a major challenge to public health and is now a critical concern to our nation, West Africa and indeed the world. We are all aware of the informed professional medical advice on the need to avoid body contacts, which is basically the easiest and common form of transmission of the Ebola virus.
As the Federal Government and other relevant bodies like the World Health Organisation (WHO), Doctors without Borders, and the United States Embassy join hands with the State in combating and containing this outbreak in Rivers State, we are using this platform to plead with you and all concerned, to call off the planned campaign rally by TAN in Port Harcourt, in the interest of adhering to the advice of ‘avoiding body contacts’, which you know is inevitable if the rally is allowed to hold.
This has nothing to do with politics, Mr. President; We have no personal grouse against TAN or their campaigning for you. Infact, Mr. President, we take the participatory rights of citizens which we think is fundamental in any quality democracy most seriously. It is our responsibility at the same time to promote, protect and demand for the rights of citizens and aliens alike; as it is your duty under our Constitution to assure the security and welfare of the people, which is the primary purpose of government. Your urgent intervention in this exceptional circumstances, which if not attended to, could endanger the existence of our society and the principles upon which it is founded is required.
The right to health of the Nigerian public is far more important than any politicking in any guises at this point in time. In addition to extending the resumption dates of primary and secondary schools, for the same reason that we are most concerned herein, your Minister for Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, creditably warned that people should avoid large gatherings until Nigeria is totally free of the Ebola Virus.
Mr. President, for the avoidance of any doubt life, liberty and security are the fundamental precepts of any system of human rights. It is to secure them that “governments are instituted among men.” All universal declarations and conventions of human rights incorporate them; all civilized states recognize their essential nature and guarantee their protection. The reports of the United Nations characterize life as the “minimum human right” which “no government has the right to deny arbitrarily.”
It would not be fair and just to jeopardize the efforts to contain the spread of the disease by allowing such rally to hold at this time in Port Harcourt. We cannot rule out the fact that there may be others out there, who may try to live in denial, hence the risk of more transmissions of the disease in the State.
Therefore Mr. President, we urge you to take your responsibility seriously, by curtailing the spread of this deadly disease among our people, by calling the leaders, members and all persons involved in the planned TAN rally and campaign on your behalf in Port Harcourt, to immediately put off the idea, at least until Rivers State is free of the Ebola Virus Disease. Only living human beings can vote during the forthcoming elections.
We believe that politics at this time cannot be more important than the health and lives of our citizens. It is our hope Mr. President, that you will act in the interest of the people you swore under the Constitution to protect.
Finally, Mr. President must take responsibility for further any spread of the Ebola disease in Rivers State, should he fail to take our present proactive solicitation to negate the spread of the same most seriously.
Sincerely,
Signed:
Anyakwee Nsirimovu
Convener