The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has given the Federal government led by President Muhammadu Buhari a 48-hour ultimatum to declare the whereabouts of the medical team from China who were brought in purportedly to assist the nation in its fight against the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic.
According to a statement issued on Saturday night, on its Twitter handle, the main opposition Party was reacting to a declaration by the Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, that he cannot account for the whereabouts of the Chinese team.
The party said, “More so, the minister’s statement had heightened apprehensions in the public space that the Chinese team, whose identity and activities have been shrouded in secrecy, might have been brought in by a certain cabal for another purpose outside the general public good.”
The party said that it was suspicious, creepy and weird that Dr. Ehanire, who oversees health matters in the country and had repeatedly assured that the Chinese medics were brought to render medical services and trainings;
“and even went personally to receive them at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja on April 8, 2020, in an elaborately publicized event, can no longer account for the team.”
The party noted that it was worried that the Buhari government was not telling Nigerians the truth, and is “playing politics with the lives of our citizens and health safety of our nation.”
The PDP said it holds that the government’s inability to account for the Chinese team amounts to direct betrayal of public trust, “which has heightened fears of conspiracies by certain unpatriotic interests in the APC and its administration to compromise the health architecture of our nation and expose our citizens to danger.”
“Nigerians can recall how the Federal Government had failed to respond to demands by our party and other well-meaning Nigerians for the particulars of the members of the team, their medical status, scope of operation, detailed itinerary within our country as well as the safety of the equipment they brought into our nation.
“Our party had expressed worry over scary reports of escalation of the scourge in certain countries reportedly after the arrival of Chinese medical personnel in those countries and insisted that the @OfficialAPCNg administration should be held responsible should there be any sudden upsurge in COVID-19 infection and deaths in our country, with the arrival of the said Chinese medical team”, it stated
Further saying that “We invite Nigerians to note that whereas our nation’s COVID-19 data, upon the arrival of the Chinese team in April, stood at 254 confirmed cases with 44 successfully treated by our doctors and 6 deaths, which reportedly had other underlining ailments.
“Today, the data stands at no less than 5,450 cases and 171 deaths.
“Our party therefore insists that the PTF on COVID-19 should immediately come out with the truth and provide explanations on the whereabouts of the team in the next 48 hours so as to douse the tension in the country”.
