By The Editor
The Rivers State government has told its citizens not to allow their children to be vaccinated by anybody, including the military, particularly if neither the parents nor the government approved of it.
The state also said there was no threat of epidemic in Rivers to warrant any one contemplating vaccinating the children in their places of study.
But the government’s decision has unsettled the opposition All Progressive Congress (APC) in Rivers State which said the government was using it as a propaganda tool against the security operatives in the state.
Unfortunately, what Rivers State government may have seen appears different from what the indigenes of Ondo State saw that made parents to, on Tuesday, withdraw their children from Ondo State schools over rumours of deadly vaccines.
Commissioner for Information and Communications Rivers State, Emma Okah sounded the warning on Tuesday in a statement he signed where he warned that the Rivers State schools should also not be used as a demonstration camp for vaccination.
However, he urged the students and pupils to ensure they are in school always but should not submit themselves for any inoculation without their approval.
Meanwhile, APC Rivers State Chapter, said Okah statement is “part of a well-articulated strategy by the Governor Nyesom Wike-led Rivers State Government to ridicule, humiliate, intimidate and demoralise the Nigerian Army, SARS and other security agencies ahead of the 2019 elections.”
In a statement singed by Chris Finebone, the APC said it finds it appalling that Wike would concoct outright lies and falsehood just to score cheap political points by denigrating our respected men and women of the uniformed and other security services who place their lives on the line every other day to keep Nigerians safe.
Finebone said: “This is the worst form of ingratitude that a government can openly organise against an important set of citizens who lose their limbs and in some cases lose their lives for the rest of us.
The APC is aware of a special project that has just been flagged off by the Rivers State Government and driven by the Commissioner for Information and Communications, Barr. Emma Okah in which a task force of PDP members have been assembled and charged with the sole task of inundating the traditional and new media daily with anti-SARS messages until the police high command is forced to transfer out CSP Akin Fakorede from Rivers State.
“The idea is that having refused and rebuffed Gov. Wike’s entreaties including a bribe of N100 million naira, the governor and his party believe that there exists a possibility that Fakorede’s replacement will likely fall for the governor’s bait ahead of the 2019 elections.
“While the APC cannot speak for the police or other security agencies, it behoves on us and indeed other well-meaning Rivers people to vehemently condemn the war of attrition being levied by Governor Wike and his government against security agencies in Rivers State.
“The fact is that the Army has made a press release re-stating that it was not conducting any medical outreach in the Niger Delta generally and Port Harcourt particularly. Independent investigations also revealed that the Nigerian Army troops were nowhere close to any school in Rivers State to carry out any medical programme of any sort despite the false alarm activated by the Rivers State Government.
“The APC insists that Governor Nyesom Wike and the PDP in Rivers State must take responsibility for any untoward outcome that may result from the needless panic mode they have forced innocent people and residents of Rivers State into today. They must accept responsibility for the politically-motivated fake news they activated in the State today and the attendant confusion it has caused law-abiding citizens.
“We call on the Nigerian Army and other security agencies to recognise the kind of personae the governor represents and the type of government he runs. We urge our respected men and women of the security services to rise above the antics of Governor Wike and his government officials.”