They are desperate again. The desperados among us are at work one more time; and very harmful indeed. They are shamelessly on the awful march again. Always for the wrong reason!
What a weird clime. Lawlessness is our ultimate law. Disorderliness is the order of the day. Sadly enough, we do not see anything strange in that queer arrangement. Not even our leaders and policymakers.
They are anguished and depressed. That made them heartless. They have uncanny mood swings and will not let go easily. They are seriously preparing the ground for the unthinkable.
We do not find it funny or pleasant. Their minds are made up. They are determined to unleash a deadly fresh COVID-19 pandemic on us. They cleverly christened it ‘second wave.’
They are strenuously linking it with the on-going pestilence. But we refuse to be convinced. Their trick is detected and punctured in good time. That is why we opted to label it second coming. It is deliberate.
In their desperation, they insist the second COVID-19 must land on us by all means. They want it, but we detest it. They wholeheartedly love it, but we hate it with passion.
The style is the same. The strategy has not changed. Even their template is similar. They are playing the same old record over and over again. The crude singsong is tiring and boring. We need a fresh break. Can’t they for once sing a new song?
As it was in the beginning, so it is now. They started the new game by instilling fear in us as was done earlier. Just as they did in the first coming, they are citing deadly occurrences from other lands.
They are haggling for another lockdown. So? They draw ignorantly from foreign instances. They rely heavily on largely unverified data, facts and figures. But they are caught up by their devilish game.
Prof. Akin Abayomi is a strong advocate of COVID-19’s second coming. He is intensely involved. He throws himself into it, doing it with everything he has and with all the strength in him.
By the way, Abayomi is the Lagos State Commissioner for Health. Lagos has refused to concede being the epicenter of COVID-19 in Nigeria. That gave him an edge. It was not lost on him to flaunt the advantage.
On Wednesday, November 4, 2020, Daily Sun reported him: “Many countries and cities were experiencing a second and third wave of the pandemic, with a resultant spike in the number of cases and fatalities.” He insisted: “Several countries have found it necessary to impose a second lockdown and restriction of movements, which have significant socio-economic and security consequences.”
And that exposed them all. That was how we got the hint of their agenda for a COVID-19 second coming. They are panting to retain the pandemic. Guess what! He wants us to follow suit.
His exact words: “The erroneous belief that COVID-19 has been conquered and is no more in Nigeria should be discarded.” His reason:
“Based on our data, this assumption is invalid. It creates a false sense of security among citizens causing many to abandon the use of facemasks and other safety measures and protocols.”
He reluctantly acknowledged decline: “Though we have reached our peak as predicted and are now experiencing a decline in number of positive cases, this is not a reason to conclude that all is over.”
Yet, Abayomi would want us to believe: “COVID-19 is still very much with us as evidenced in the number of cases being recorded in the community daily and occasional deaths from severe complications.”
Even a virologist at the University of Ibadan, Prof. David Olaleye, fell flat for it. He bought into Abayomi’s theory of the pandemic’s new wave. He added a new dimension. He nailed the #EndSARS protests for the “planned” COVID-19 second coming: “The number of cases in the last one or two weeks may partly be as a result of the #EndSARS protests. Large numbers of youths gathered without wearing facemasks. It was an opportunity for a super spreading phenomenon.”
He feared being misunderstood: “I’m not talking of whether or not people can protest, but the way it was done that time, not minding that we are in the middle of a pandemic, may have contributed to what we are now seeing.”
His profound argument: “The number of positive cases is a function of the number tested. If we test more people, we are likely to have a large number of positive cases.”
That is why the proponents of the new wave attributed the decline in positive cases to the drop in testing. Maybe, maybe not. Suffice to say that you don’t go for test for the mere fun of it. You do so when the need arises.
The question they need to answer is: Is there an increase in COVID-19-related deaths? This is germane.
We won’t be scared again. We did that several times over in the past. These evil advocates are bent on raking COVID-19 the more. It has become one big drain for them to feast on unrestricted.
That is the probable reason for upsurge in the surprise new COVID-19 advocacy. They have turned the pandemic to a viable sub-sector of our eerie economy. It is a legitimate avenue of spending public funds without control.
For them, that must be for eternity. They continue to put life into COVID-19. This is to sustain their rape and banditry on the economy. They keep on shouting to high heavens that this pandemic won’t go anytime soon. The longer it lasts, the better for their greedy pockets.
Even if the so-called COVID-19’s second wave is real, we won’t take it hook, line and sinker. Times have changed. Situations are longer the same. We have graciously moved up. We will not oblige the desperados to have an easy ride on our collective intelligence.
That luxury is over, never to rear its ugly head again. Henceforth, we will discern every piece of information on COVID-19. All our senses will be applied. We won’t just cave in. We will raise questions and queries.
This time around, we want to ensure nothing is hidden from us. We stopped trusting our leaders long ago. They are long on words, especially during electioneering, and acutely short on action after taking office.
That is the bitter lesson we learnt over time in the hard way. And we vow, we will be guided accordingly. We will resolutely stick to our guns.
Yes, we have agreed to come to terms with COVID-19. That is settled. But, certainly, it cannot be forever. There must be a time lag. And that time lag is now!