Rejection of Covid-19 vaccine: Northern group backs Kogi go

From Noah Ebije, Kaduna

A northern group under the auspices of CITAR, a non-governmental organisation has declared its stand with the Kogi State governor, Yahaya Bello, over the rejection of Covid-19 vaccines, saying that there is nothing wrong with the governor doing so on behalf of the people of the state.

Governor Bello had early this month announced that his administration would not respond to the second wave of Covid-19 with fear and panic.

The governor went a step further to reject the vaccines and also warned the people against accepting to take them.

In a statement, spokesman of CITAR, Hayatu Girie, said: “For a governor of a state to take a stand to reject the Covid-19 vaccines show that he has relevant and impeccable information that some of us don’t have about the virus.

“We, therefore, don’t have any reason to doubt Governor Yahaya Bello. He is an authentic source of information and he should be relied upon.

“We don’t see him endangering the lives of his people if he is not in possession of information about the genuine nature or otherwise of the vaccines.

“We also agreed with Governor Bello on a report on June 30, 2020, that Covid-19 is an artificial creation aimed at causing fear and panic among the people.

“We also agreed with him when he spoke at the third-day prayers for the state Chief Judge, Justice Nasir Ajana, that the chief judge did not die of coronavirus.”

The group described the governor’s advice to citizens not to give in to fear and evil of the issues of Covid-19 as welcome advice.