Headline

One Year of COVID-19 in Nigeria: The Journey So Far

Published

5 years ago

February 26, 2021

Eric

By Eric Elezuo

Today, February 27, 2021 marks the first year anniversary of the dreaded Coronavirus disease in Nigeria. On this day, in 2020, the nation woke to the news of the presence of the disease in the country. Unfolding reports said that an unnamed Italian, who had just entered the country a few days earlier, brought in the disease.

Then this statement by the Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire confirmed Nigerians’ fears:

“The Federal Ministry of Health has confirmed a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) case in Lagos State, Nigeria. The case, which was confirmed on the 27th of February 2020, is the first case to be reported in Nigeria since the beginning of the outbreak in China in January 2020.

“The case is an Italian citizen who works in Nigeria and returned from Milan, Italy to Lagos, Nigeria on the 25th of February 2020. He was confirmed by the Virology Laboratory of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, part of the Laboratory Network of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control. The patient is clinically stable, with no serious symptoms, and is being managed at the Infectious Disease Hospital in Yaba, Lagos.

“The Government of Nigeria, through the Federal Ministry of Health has been strengthening measures to ensure an outbreak in Nigeria is controlled and contained quickly. The multi-sectoral Coronavirus Preparedness Group led by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has immediately activated its national Emergency Operations Centre and will work closely with Lagos State Health authorities to respond to this case and implement firm control measures.

“I wish to assure all Nigerians that have we have been beefing up our preparedness capabilities since the first confirmation of cases in China, and we will use all the resources made available by the government to respond to this case.

“We have already started working to identify all the contacts of the patient, since he entered Nigeria. Please be reminded that most people who become infected may experience only mild illness and recover easily, but it can be more severe in others, particularly the elderly and persons with other underlying chronic illnesses. All Nigerians should take care of their health and maintain hand and respiratory hygiene to protect themselves and others, including their own families, following the precautions below:

1. Regularly and thoroughly wash your hands with soap and water, and use alcohol-based hand sanitiser.

2. Maintain at least 1 & half metres (5 feet) distance between yourself and anyone who is coughing or sneezing.

3. Persons with persistent cough or sneezing should stay home or keep a social distance, but not mix in crowd.

4. Make sure you and people around you, follow good respiratory hygiene, meaning cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or into your sleeve at the bent elbow or tissue when you cough or sneeze. Then dispose of the used tissue immediately.

5. Stay home if you feel unwell with symptoms like fever, cough and difficulty in breathing. Please call NCDC toll free number which is available day and night, for guidance- 0800-970000-10. Do not engage in self-medication

6. Stay informed on the latest developments about COVID-19 through official channels on TV and Radio, including the Lagos State Ministry of Health, NCDC and Federal Ministry of Health.

Citizens must not abuse social media and indulge in spreading misinformation that causes fear and panic. The Federal Ministry of Health, through Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, will continue to provide updates and will initiate all measures required to prevent the spread of any outbreak in Nigeria.”

Of course, the ministry provided updates, but the disease continued to have a field spreading across Nigeria’s 35 states and Abuja. Note that Kogi has refused to grant NCDC opportunity to conduct tests in its state, and the regulatory declared the state a no-go area.

As at the moment Nigeria has recorded 154,476 cases of the disease with 131, 699 recoveries and 1, 891 fatalities so far with a little over 22, 000 active cases.

For the 1, 891 deaths, it has been a gruesome passage to the world beyond as the pains associated with the sickness, especially at the early stages, were unbearable to say the least.

In fact, watching the frail nature of renowned Nigerian broadcaster and Chairman, Biscon Communications, Prince Bisi Olatilo, while he tried to dispel the rumours of his death during his ordeal with ailment, one couldn’t help but shed a tear or two, and of course curse the spirit behind the deadly COVID-19, which ravaged the entire the world while becoming a full blown pandemic.

The disease did not just make an appearance, but devastated businesses, livelihoods, social lives, families and day to day existence. It broke an all time record of the world’s biggest killer.

Much as the world may not claim ignorance of having seen so devastating, so hazardous and uncompromising a disease, one thing is obvious, none of the diseases in the past has appeared so stubborn and persistent that even a nine months lockdown could not drive it away completely. The COVID-19 made a dramatic return, claiming more lives in quick succession now than before. As at the present, newly two million lives have been wasted even as World Health Organisation (WHO) battles the new virus strains.

The killer disease bared its full pangs from inception on December 9, 2019 when it made its notorious appearance in the Chinese town of Wuhan. What started like a child’s play was later to metamorphosed into a full blown pandemic, paralysing the world’s economy, ruining social, entertainment and religious lives of the people as well as creating a distance between one and another.

According to Science Direct, “the coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) is a highly transmittable and pathogenic viral infection caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which emerged in Wuhan, China and spread around the world. Genomic analysis revealed that SARS-CoV-2 is phylogenetically related to severe acute respiratory syndrome-like (SARS-like) bat viruses, therefore bats could be the possible primary reservoir.”

By January 2020, the virus had eaten deep into the fabrics of the society, causing nations to systematically declare unspoken sanctions against one another as international travels became totally restricted. No one wanted the other into his territorial space. Apart from the war declared on humanity by the virus, there was also a silent war declared by man against man; do not trespass into my territory. There were dire consequences for defaulters. The world was on lockdown! And the midst of the lockdown, the virus continued its mass slaughter.

In Nigeria, the matter of COVID-19 assumed greater seriousness when on April 17, one of the supposedly strong men of the Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, who was the Chief of Staff, Mallam Abba Kyari died from complications from the disease. This was barely two months after the first case was reported in Nigeria, on February 26, 2020, of an Italian expatriate, who inadvertently recovered from the ailment. Kyari’s death jolted the Nigerian public, especially the elites. This was a disease that has no respect for class or status. The dice was cast. It became obvious that no one was safe. The safest place to hide therefore, became the embrace of discipline with its attendant features that involve hand washing, mask wearing and keeping a safe distance from the public irrespective of how well known or close the other person is to you.

From then onwards, there was no looking back as the ailment claimed personality after personality, not to talk of ‘ordinary’ people who did not get a mention as a result of their status.

The killer disease showed no mercy, cutting short prevailing happiness in homes and rendering children fatherless, and motherless in most cases. On June 25, another Nigerian political heavyweight, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, bowed to the disease. He was 70 years. Abiola was a two term governor of Oyo State. Shortly afterwards, Senator Kashamu Buruji followed suit. Struggling with the pangs of death, Buruji had brokered a peace deal with one of his major foes. He knew he was not going to make, and so put through a pathetic call to billionaire businessman, Kesington Adebutu, and made peace. His words were rapid and desperate, and his voice shaky. Though the bitterness of death was severe and obvious in his voice, he must have died a happy man.

Following closely in July, another heavyweight of the Buhari administration, Mallam Isah Funtua, joined the fray of fallen heroes. He was a notable force in Nigeria’s political terrain.

It is worthy of note that almost all the state governors had contracted the virus at one time or another. Some of them are Governor of Oyo, Seyi Makinde, Kaduna State’s Nasir El-Rufai and Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State, Others are Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State among others.

The disease was no respecter of persons. It claimed the heavyweight and paperweight, the young, the not very young as well as the aged in its sweeping movement.

As at April, 2020, the virus had cleared over 1000 African personalities from former presidents, prime ministers and lawmakers, to entertainment icons and top sportsmen. The agony of the of the deaths was that most of these greats could not get the send-off they would have been accorded in “normal times.”

Across the states, and the world at large, the story remained the same; a tale of deaths and untold crises.

In Nigeria, three phases of lockdown were recorded yet the disease maintained an upper hand, making a mincemeat of all efforts previously put in to curtail it. The impact of the virus did not only waste human lives, it also has a debilitating effect on economies with Nigeria, among a few other economies sliding into recession, the second in less than five years, and the worst since 1987. Only last week, the country made a slight but welcomed recovery…

Just before the turn of the year, Nigeria announced that it has unceremoniously entered a fresh phase of the pandemic. The chairperson of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) and Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Boss Mustapha, gave the indication, lamenting the risk of not just losing the gains from the hard work of the last nine months, but also losing precious lives of citizens.

Speaking through the Minister of Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika, Mustapha said: “the events and statistics of the last two weeks, within and outside Nigeria, have been very mixed.

“On the one hand, the cheering news of the COVID-19 vaccine, while on the other hand, we have witnessed spikes in the number of infections at home and abroad.

“The real threat is upon humanity and the progress made in the global health sector in the last five decades or more.

”In Nigeria, the indication is that we have entered a second wave of infections and we stand the risk of not just losing the gains from the hard work of the last nine months but also losing the precious lives of our citizens.

“The PTF believes that if we do the right things, adhere to the NPIs and step up our testing and detection, loss of lives will be minimised and the rising curve will begin to flatten”, the chairperson said.

Mustapha further stated that “we are in a potentially difficult phase of the COVID-19 resurgence; accessing the hope offered by the arrival of the vaccine is still some time ahead.

”Vaccines alone cannot cure the virus, rather, but a combination of initiatives, including the NPIs; that more than ever before, we need compliance.”

The SGF lamented lost lives and vow to ‘escalate our risk communication and community engagement strategies to higher levels’.

While the virus has sent a whole lot to their early graves, a lot has survived the scourge and its deadly attacks which involve dry cough, loss of taste, difficulty in breathing among others. The survivors have sorry tales of near death experiences – an experience they unanimously agreed that no one should go through.

Among some Nigerians, who had gone through the hell of COVID-19 and survived include Mrs Laila Saint Matthews-Daniel, veteran broadcaster, Prince Bisi Olatilo, Ali Baba, Yomi Badejo-Okusanya, Retired Police AIG,Tunji Alapini, Seun Fakorede, Ivuoma Tom, Seun Osowobi, presidential aide, Babafemi Ojudu, Chairman, DAAR Communications, High Chief Raymond Dokpesi and entire family and others.

But after many months of research and hard work, the world through the World Health Organisation has come up with a remedy – the COVID-19 vaccines. While an initial dose of 100, 000 was allocated to Nigeria, there were obstacles to receiving them. In the first, there were problems of where they vaccines would stored. They were supposed in cold temperatures, but reports came Nigeria did not have refrigerators to store them. There were also problems of navigating the interior and rural areas. However, a means was discovered via ultra-cold chain equipment.

“What we do have coming to the country is the Pfizer vaccines that require about -70 degrees Celsius,” said Dr Faisal Shuaib, Director-General of the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHDA).

However, much as it was said that the vaccines would in Nigeria by early February, the consignments are yet to arrive even as February has ended. The neighbouring country, Ghana, has since received theirs. The Nigeria health cannot say for sure when the vaccines would arrive.

Im the meantime, the disease continues to sweep through. Someone has quipped that “it is just the grace of God that continues to save us”.

Headline

Parties’ Deregistration: ADC, Not NDC, is the Target

Published

1 day ago

June 29, 2026

Eric

By Eric Elezuo

As the 2027 presidential election draws closer, intrigues, manipulations and maneuvers have continued to be the order of the day as political parties engage in one gimmick or another to outdo and undo one another.

While some are playing politics of numbers and conviction, others are engaging tendencies that tend to question the status quo and established principles under which genuine democracy is formed. As a matter of fact, fingers have been pointed at the President Bola Tinubu-led Federal government as the brain behind all machinations that have attempted to derail multi-party democracy, and institute a one-party state, which is alien to the Nigerian democratic roots. This is as a result of the constant imbroglio that has consistently engulf almost all the major political parties in the country.

Fresh facts have however, emerged to prove that every act of frustration thrown at the opposition has been indirectly aimed at the main opposition party, the African Democratic Congress (ADC), and its presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.

According to reliable sources, the recent deregistration of parties, especially the Nigerian Democratic Congress (NDC), was actually targeted at the ADC.

Recall that the Federal High Court in Lokoja, Kogi State, on June, 26, set aside its earlier judgement directing the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to register the NDC as a political party. A ruling that put a question mark on the eligibility of the party presenting candidates in the forthcoming 2027 elections

The presiding judge, Isah Dashen, held that all relevant parties must be heard before any substantive decision can be made in the matter.

The court upheld the application filed by a certain organization, the Peace Movement Party (PMP), ruling that the party was a necessary party to the suit.

According to the judge, the earlier judgement was constitutionally defective as it was delivered without hearing from all interested parties.

He declared that such an omission rendered the entire process null and void.

Mr Dashen further ruled that the status quo be restored to what it was before the December 10, 2025 judgement, pending the determination of the substantive suit.

He also observed that certain material facts were suppressed in the earlier proceedings, which justified the decision to set aside the judgment.

Consequently, the court ordered that the substantive suit should begin afresh, with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the PMP and the NDC as parties to the case.

According to NAN’s reports, the applicant’s lawyer, Chikezie Ekeocha, told journalists that the PMP approached the court after discovering that NDC’s registration was based on a logo it had previously submitted to INEC before the commencement of the suit.

According to Mr Ekeocha, the court agreed that the applicant’s rights had been affected and consequently vacated the earlier judgement.

“The court has ordered all parties to return to the position they occupied before the judgment of 10 December 2025, and directed the claimants to join all necessary parties to ensure the issues in dispute are effectually and completely determined,” he said.

He explained that the implication of the ruling is that every action taken by INEC in compliance with the now-vacated judgment stands reversed.

“The recognition of the NDC, the issuance of its certificate of registration, its inclusion in INEC’s records, and any appearance on ballot papers arising from that judgement must be withdrawn pending the final determination of the substantive suit,” Mr Ekeocha stated.

He, however, clarified that the substantive case remains before the court and has not been decided.

“The matter has not been concluded. The court merely set aside its previous judgment and directed that the party whose interests were affected be joined so that all sides can be heard before a fresh decision is reached.”

Mr Ekeocha also dismissed suggestions that the court merely ordered parties to maintain the status quo, insisting that the ruling specifically directed a restoration of the position that existed before the 10 December 2025 judgement.

The ruling effectively returns the dispute over the registration of the NDC to the Federal High Court for a fresh hearing, with all relevant parties expected to participate before a new determination is made.

It would also be recalled that a few weeks earlier, the Federal High Court in Abuja, had ordered the deregistration of five political parties including the African Democratic Congress (ADC). The others are Action People’s Party (APP), Action Alliance (AA), Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) and Accord Party.

However, on June 16, the Court of Appeal in Abuja halted the enforcement of the judgement, ruling that it violated its earlier ruling staying proceedings before the Federal High Court.

While INEC awaits the release of the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the judgment to deregister the NDC, the NDC has reacted, rejecting the judgment as travesty of justice.

Lending credence to the notion that the President Tinubu-led administration is basically targeting the establishment of the ADC as a party, and the candidature of its presidential flagbearer, former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, who is also the presidential candidate of the ADC, has stated categorically that there are plots to prevent the party from participating in the 2027 general election.

Atiku’s position is stated in a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu on Monday, notifying the public that he had received credible information suggesting that political and legal manoeuvres were being deployed against the ADC, stressing that the persecution that has been thrown towards the NDC was a clear distraction as the main target is the ADC.

Atiku alleged that anti-democratic elements within the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) were working to ensure that the ADC is excluded from the ballot.

“We are fully aware of their plots. While they seek to sow confusion within the opposition, we know their real target is the ADC because it represents the most credible alternative,” he said.

Atiku called on Nigerians to reject any attempt to determine which opposition parties participate in the election.

“We therefore call on all Nigerians — not just ADC members and supporters — to rise in defense of democracy and reject any attempt by the ruling party to cherry-pick which opposition parties are permitted to participate in the next general election,” he said.

“Our message to the APC and the hooded men plotting in dark chambers is simple: you may conspire, but you will not succeed.

“If the APC is truly confident in its popularity, why is it so terrified of the ADC?”

He said he hoped the information available to him would not materialise but argued that recent political developments made such concerns difficult to dismiss.

“The pattern has become all too familiar. First, institutions that ought to be neutral are drawn into partisan contests,” he said.

“Then, frivolous litigations suddenly gain unusual momentum. Administrative powers are selectively deployed.

“Political pressure is mounted behind closed doors. Before long, democracy itself becomes the casualty.”

Atiku alleged that the ruling party has focused more on weakening the opposition than addressing the country’s economic and security challenges.

“The obsession with silencing the opposition has become so consuming that governance itself has taken a back seat,” he said.

“At a time when Nigerians are battling hunger, inflation, unemployment, insecurity, and collapsing purchasing power, those entrusted with public office appear preoccupied with political survival rather than national survival.”

Nigerians recall that ever since the official rejuvenation of the ADC in June/July of 2025, where the duo of Senator David Mark and Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola emerged as the party’s chairman and secretary respectively, the party has not known moments of peaceful coexistence as litigations from corners unknown have sprang up in a bid to destabilize the party and deprive it of the opportunity of featuring on the ballot paper come 2027.

ADC, as a child of circumstance emerged from the rumbles of the litigation-ridden former main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), where two factions have consistently remelained at loggerheads over leadership. While the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, who is working assiduously to ensure the reelection of Bola Tinubu, leads one faction, Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, who became a defacto head, leads the other faction. In all, PDP appeared to have no direction, forcing many of its members to jump ship, thereby birthing the ADC, and to a large extent, the NDC, which is presenting Peter Obi as the presidential candidate, with former Kano governor, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, as his running mate.

Sources also informed The Boss that the hasty reading and passage of the Electoral Act 2026 by the Godswill Akpabio-led National Assembly, with many great areas left unattended to, were also part of the grand design to deprive the ADC the constitutional rights of presenting candidates for the 2027 elections.

But both the ADC and the NDC has vowed that they would follow every process to ensure that the crackdown on opposition parties by the Tinubu administration comes to an abrupt end.

But beyond the intrigues, Nigerians are gearing up to participate fully in the forthcoming election with cross sections of the population either hailing Tinubu for his policies or knocking him for the untold hardship in the land.

Headline

South Africa Nothing Without Africa – MTN Boss, Mcebisi Jonas

Published

4 days ago

June 27, 2026

Eric

The MTN Group Chairman, Mcebisi Jonas, has condemned the ongoing anti-foreigner sentiment in South Africa, describing it as a symptom of State failure being cynically exploited by politicians with no interest in genuine solutions.

The speech is seen as one of the most substantive interventions by a senior business figure into xenophobic crisis currently plaguing South Africa.

Delivered during the funeral service of Zimbabwean-born activist and public servant, Thokozani Damasane, Jonas’ words have sparked a wave of discussion across South African civil society.

“I was thinking, what is home to Damasane?” he said. “Because I understand, and I understood very early in life, that home is where humanity is. Home is about humanness. It is about the good of humanity and striving for the good of humanity.”

Thokozani Damasane was born and educated in Zimbabwe before relocating to South Africa during the post-apartheid transition period. Jonas described him as arriving “as an outcast” into a country still finding its post-liberation footing – and choosing, nonetheless, to commit himself entirely to its struggles and its people.

“He immersed himself deeply into the struggles, into the pains of South Africans, and he became one of us,” Jonas said.

“In Damasane’s strength, our strength as South Africa and South Africans is reflected. And in his weaknesses, our own weaknesses are reflected.”

Speaking further, Jonas blamed the state for the failure being witnessed, emphasising that if foreigners leave South Africa today, the country’s problems will still persist.

“Foreigners can leave tomorrow – inequality will be with us,” he told the congregation.

“Foreigners will leave tomorrow – unemployment will be with us. Foreigners will leave tomorrow – our police will remain corrupt. Foreigners will leave tomorrow – our politicians will still be concerned with one thing: being elected and re-elected.

“The problem is the failure of the state. The State doesn’t manage immigration. It doesn’t manage its borders. It doesn’t enforce
law enforcement. It doesn’t manage education. What are you expecting?”

Jonas argued that this failure created fertile ground for political manipulation. “When people feel the burn, they become vulnerable to politicians whose sole purpose is to be elected and re-elected. Some of them have no credibility whatsoever. But they lead marches and tell our people that the problem is not us – it is foreigners.”

Jonas recounted a conversation he had witnessed between Damasane and a young man who had challenged the right of foreigners to be in South Africa. Damasane’s response, Jonas said, had stayed with him ever since.

“Damasane said to this guy: Just wait fifteen or twenty years. You will also want to leave your country.”

Jonas told mourners those words now carry a weight Damasane may not have anticipated. “As I stand up today, I look at South Africa. The level of oppression and inequality, the level of exclusion of our people, the level of corruption, the betrayal of the dream of liberation – those words of Damasane ring very loud in my ears.”

South Africa is nothing without Africa

Jonas closed with a call for what he described as a return to “national consciousness” – one rooted in continental solidarity and economic interdependence rather than ethnic exclusion.

“We are a nation embedded in Africa,” he said. “And without Africa, our growth as a country – economically – our fortune is intertwined with the growth of Africa. South Africa is nothing without Africa. And Africa is nothing without South Africa.”

He also reframed the question of legacy and identity for Damasane’s children, who were present. “Sometimes this thing called meritocracy is measured in wealth. No. It is values, it is principles, it is integrity. And your father had all of that.”

“We cannot judge people by their origin,” he told mourners. “We cannot determine the legal status of people by their origin.”

Headline

NDC Rejects Court Ruling on Party’s Registration, Heads to Appeal Court

Published

4 days ago

June 27, 2026

Eric

The Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), on Friday, vowed to challenge the judgment nullifying its registration by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), insisting that it would exercise its constitutional right of appeal.

Reacting to the ruling on Thursday, the party’s spokesman, Osa Director, said the NDC was still awaiting the certified copy of the judgment before making a comprehensive statement on the court’s decision.

He, however, confirmed that the party had resolved to head to the appellate court.

“We are still waiting to obtain a copy of the judgment. After reading the comprehensive judgment, we will make a detailed statement,” he said.

The spokesman added: “For now, what is certain is that we will exercise our right of appeal.”

Insisting that the party would challenge the ruling, he said: “It is our constitutional right to appeal, and we intend to exercise that right.”

When asked specifically whether the NDC would appeal the judgment voiding its registration, the spokesman replied: “Yes, the party will appeal the case.”

The party’s reaction came shortly after a Federal High Court sitting in Lokoja, Kogi State, in a judgement that nullified its registration by INEC, a development that could have significant implications for the NDC’s participation in the country’s political process ahead of the 2027 general elections.

The NDC, however, maintained that it would refrain from making further comments on the substance of the judgment until it had studied the full text of the court’s decision.

The party’s planned appeal is expected to set the stage for a fresh legal battle over its status and continued existence as a registered political party.