‘Kogi’s Covid-19-free status claim dubious’

Leke Abejide represents Yagba Federal Constituency (Kogi State) in the House of Representatives. Abejide who was elected on the platform of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) is the Vice-Chairman, House Committee on Customs and Excise. In this interview, he speaks on the country’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic, growing incidence of rape and other national issues.

 

HOW would you rate the federal and state governments’ fight against the Covid-19 pandemic?

The Federal Government has done enough. They are even trying to overdo it. For example, in the budget, the funds meant for hospital equipment that members imputed to the budget system for their constituencies, almost N400 billion was channelled to fighting Covid-19 in the revised budget.  Covid-19 is novel, therefore you cannot quantify the cost of fighting against the spread of the pandemic in all ramifications. I just pray that coronavirus would go away soon. The state governments need to do more. With the exception of Lagos State which I would say has done extremely well providing daily updates and a few others, there is room for improvement at the state government levels. They need to do more.

Kogi State Government and the NCDC have clashed over the former’s claims that the state does not have a case of Covid-19 index. What is your take on this?

For me, if you are not testing you cannot claim you don’t have Covid-19 in your state. There is a need to test like other states are doing before we can confirm that there is no case. As you sit there I don’t know if you have it and if you have strong immunity and I don’t have strong immunity, I am already exposed to coronavirus and there are 99.9 per cent chances I may be infected unless I undergo a test. I will advise the Kogi State government to embark on intensive testing through putting to use the testing centres and kits that the government spokesman said they have put in place.

The state government’s spokesman insisted that no one has fallen sick or has died from Covid-19 related symptoms or complications in the state?

We are all educated. I have two degrees, I have gone around the world and the continents. There are some things you can say to some people but not to someone at my level. The governor is my friend. I am only advising that if possible every local government must be provided with a testing centre. Can’t you see the rate at which people are dying at home without knowing the causes especially people with underlining sicknesses? It is about immunity. The day Governor Yahaya Bello shook hands with the late Chief of Staff to the President, Mallam Abba K’yari, I was there with? The governor of Kebbi State, that of Gombe State and former governor of Bauchi State, about five of us. Those who came close and even shook hands with him are all alive today free of  Covid-19 . So, it is all about immunity.

I give you an example of why I have my doubts about Kogi’s coronavirus free status claims. Go to Obajana, site of Dangote cement factory where you see hundreds of trucks coming in daily from the north, especially from? Kano, one of the epicentres of  Covid-19 in Nigeria. If you go to Obajana to test, I will not want to talk about the likely consequences. I pray we don’t have a case as they say and that this period will just go away.

What are the primary motives and targets of the Pan-Okun Covid-19 Relief Response Agenda?

It was not difficult for well-meaning personalities and indeed all right-thinking sons and daughters of Okunland to see the need for us to come together, in this case, emergency response to Covid-19 pandemic, irrespective of creed.? We put our heads together to identify at least two health care centres in each of the five local governments in Okunland, including Oworo which is under Lokoja Council, provide them with equipment to improve on their facilities. Summarily the motive is health care and citizens welfare. Our target is N500m from donors such as Okun citizens at home and the Diaspora, friends of Okunland and corporate organisations. The last time I checked we were close to raising N50m. Our elders in the Pan-Okun Elders Advisory Council and the steering committee are in a better position to speak more on the progress we have made so far and updates.

In your view, what is responsible for the growing cases of rape, particularly involving minors?

I think genesis is the erosion of family values in our climes. If you go to some homes the attitudes of some parents towards their children, you will be wondering what the children will grow up to become in future. Can they do differently? The answer is no. Let me start with the girl child and l am talking about the dressing mode inculcated in these kids by their parents, especially their mothers who willingly decide to buy the girls’ spaghetti dresses, exposing sexy parts of their bodies that are not supposed to be exposed publicly. You cannot think of such while we were growing up, you cannot equate what we see today that has become of the dressing mode of the girl child with what our parents inculcated in us while growing up. However, that is not a yardstick for men to rape women. But in a society where you have the streets ruled by gangsters, boys who lack home training, most of whom started taking hard drugs from childhood, you can imagine the consequences. Now when you hear that a 40-year-old has defiled a three-year-old baby, it is something else; that one is not ordinary, it is psychiatric. Or do I call it diabolic? Out of the urge for material gains, some lazy people go from one herbalist to another and you are told by the herbalist you can never be as rich as Lagbaja unless you sleep with a one-year-old, without the knowledge of what Mr Lagbaja has been through in pursuit of desired status change from his poor background through hard work and determination. That is another aspect. Now back to common raping, it is down to eroded family values. It is due to a lack of home training.

How do you think society can deal with the rape menace?

The most effective way is the law and execution of that law. One of my colleagues in the House of Representatives, Kazaure advocated castration and this is being thought of as an overkill. For me, it makes sense. In other words, anybody who commits the act of rape deserves? capital punishment if we must stem the tide. Without capital punishment, this thing will not stop. A mere jail sentence is not enough punishment. Offenders will go to jail and come back to that same society, and for those who have godfathers, they may end up not serving the jail term.? But with the introduction of capital punishment and the public sees that people caught with rape are made to pay for it with their lives or lose part of their bodies, particularly the instrument used to commit rape, they become wary of the fate that awaits them should they try it. If you rape a minor and you’re castrated you will not die but your life will be made miserable. These rapists listen to the radio, they watch television; they are all over the media space. They hear everything that is being said about rape, the laws that are being enacted, the condemnations and all that. When it all ended with a jail sentence, they know they will only serve a few years sentence and come back to their livelihood. To them, it is no big deal and for those of them who can’t afford to feed themselves, the prisons offer the opportunity of a free daily meal. Capital punishment for rapists has my support. Until something like this begins to happen to a rapist, they will not stop.

Some of the rape cases have been attributed to improper dressing amongst the female folks.  Do you agree?

That is what I was telling you about eroded family values. When a girl child will go out half-naked, and these randy guys, you are unlucky to cross their path in a quiet area and their body arouses out of uncontrolled sexual urge, they strike. Some of these boys who started taking hard drugs from childhood, they lack morality and grew without any home training. Our own culture is different from the European and American cultures that our women seek to copy in their dressing. These people have come a long way in civilization for over 200 years. Our culture demands that we dress modestly. In the past, our women were not used to exposing sexy parts of their bodies. You can only attract yourself to your man inside your home, not to the public. Our women must learn to dress decently.