Governor Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara state said on Tuesday that the main reason God decided to punish Nigerians with the Type C Meningitis which has no vaccine is the high rate of fornication in the country.
Yari said this in an interview with State House correspondents shortly after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House in Abuja.
“What we used to know as far as meningitis is concerned is the Type A virus.
The World Health Organisation has carried out vaccinations against this Type A virus, not just in Zamfara, but in many other states.
“However, because people refused to stop their nefarious activities, God now decided to send Type C virus, which has no vaccination.
People have turned away from God and he has promised that ‘if you do anyhow, you see anyhow.’
That is just the cause of this outbreak, as far as I am concerned.
“There is no way fornication will be so rampant and God will not send a disease that cannot be cured.
The most important thing is for our people to know that their relationship with God is not smooth.
All they need to do is repent and everything will be alright,” he said.
He said political leaders were doing their best in educating the people, but would not be able to go about arresting them if they failed to obey God’s command.
Yari, who is also the chairman of Nigeria Governors’ Forum ( NGF), said there is shortage of vaccine for the Type C with the five million doses available globally not enough for Zamfara state alone.
He said the Ministry of Health has only 50,000 doses of the vaccine adding that 20,000 was given to his state because of the high casualties recorded there.
“Our focus as a state now is to continue treating those who are infected with the disease, but as for vaccination, it has an international dimension.
We have information that Nigeria will get the highest percentage of the five million doses available now.
Apart from WHO, other international bodies such as the Bill Gates foundation and UNICEF are also currently focusing on how to tackle the outbreak,” he said.
