The Socialist Party of Nigeria, SPN, has accused some leaders of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, of violating the social distancing order put in place to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
The party also said some individuals and organisations in the society are also guilty of the same offence.
The offence is said to be committed in the course of distributing relief materials to cushion the effects of the lockdown imposed in the state.
In the statement signed by its chairman, Rufus Olusesan and secretary, Y. K Shoyombo, the party stressed the need for Lagos State government to call APC leaders to order in order to prevent the community transmission of the disease.
The statement reads in part: “The Lagos State Chapter of the Socialist Party of Nigeria (SPN) deems it fit to call the attention of the Lagos State government to the rowdy nature of distributing the limited and inadequate relief materials by Lagos state APC leaders at the state and LGA levels as well as some government officials. Some NGOs and individuals also appear to be guilty of this conduct. The conducts of these elements become more concerning given recent claims by the Lagos State Health Commissioner, Akin Abayomi, that “community transmission is now responsible for 45 per cent of new infections” (Business Day, 6 April 2020).
“As a party, we are of the strong opinion that this rowdy method of distributing the inadequate relief materials violates social distancing undermining the efforts to contain COVID-19 pandemic and may have been responsible for the steady rise of new cases of infection despite over three weeks ban of local and international flights and a 2-week lockdown emplaced by the Federal government in Lagos, Abuja and the Ogun states.
“We hereby challenge the Lagos State government to call its unruly party officials at the state and LGA levels to order and be prepared to apply the full weight of the law when they violate social distancing and risk the lives of all Lagosians. If the law could be applied to a few celebrities and ordinary Lagosians found jogging on the road, we expect that officials of the ruling party should not be treated as sacred cows. Moreso, this method of relief distribution is dehumanising as it treats citizens like hungry wild animals. We therefore reiterate our call for house-to-house distribution of the relief materials by democratically-formed community committees.
“While it cannot be denied that the All Progressives Congress (APC)-controlled Lagos State Government has initiated some palliatives to cushion the effect of the lockdown, they have been measly to say the least. In most cases, the palliatives, which are insufficient, are turned to self-promotion items by politicians in the ruling party. As a result, many hungry citizens are being forced to defy the lockdown in search of food. We call for equitable distribution of relief materials and a cash grant of N50, 000 per month for the individual working class and poor families as well as the unemployed in Lagos state to survive the lockdown.”
