By Valentine Amanze
The Vice-Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Peter Obi, has appealed to market leaders nationwide to close down the non-essential parts of their markets.
He said that leaving such essential parts as drugs and food stuff would be one of the preventive measures towards curtailing the spread of the deadly Coronavirus in Nigeria.
The former governor of Anambra State made the appeal in a statement by his media aide, Mr. Valentine Obienyem, on Tuesday.
Obi, who commended the actions taken so far by various levels of government on the dreaded virus, expressed satisfaction with the increasing awareness among Nigerians.
He said that, with the gory stories in some parts of the world, it was the time Nigerians should make sacrifices by deliberately curtailing all acts that were capable of increasing the transmission of the virus.
Obi, who was particular about traders, appealed to them to shut markets nationwide, except those dealing on essential goods and food stuff. He said that if only those vital sectors operated, the crowds in the markets would become sufficiently reduced to be controlled through appropriate measures.
On the closure of schools and barring of social events, Obi agreed that those measures were aimed at saving lives.
His words: ‘‘The fact of existence is that we must first of all be alive before we talk about other existential activities.”
Obi, however, sympathised with all the victims of the deadly virus worldwide, and commended the responsiveness and cooperation of various world leaders and governments globally towards fighting the Coronavirus. He said that it would be a thing of joy to witness the continued working together among the peoples of the world to defeat other common enemies, such as hunger and unemployment.
Saying that he has followed the various prayers of the Pope, as well as his “Urbi et Orbi” blessings to Rome and to the whole world, Obi called on all the religious groups to remain prayerful to God not to forsake His children.
