America’s 40th President Ronald Reagan’s immutable quote, “People don’t start wars, governments do,” always reverberates among scholars whenever there is a historic logjam. That quote would in years to come turn out to be true. Also United States Army General William Childs Westmoreland was quoted as saying, “The military don’t start war; politicians start wars.”
Today, the citizens of the world have been exonerated from the blame of causing the present-day invincible war. Every accusing finger points to governments, controlled by politicians. The virus in question is scientifically known as the coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19), a highly transmittable and pathogenic viral infection caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which emerged in Wuhan, China, and, like trained foot soldiers, started spreading far and wide, ravaging nations of the world and viciously attacking human beings, not sparing anyone from rulers to ordinary people. The viral army has been unleashed on mankind.
According to a school of thought, the Chinese government wants to decimate the world’s population to afford it ultimate control of world economy.
Unfortunately, the reverse became the situation and Chinese citizens paid dearly for this yet-to-be-explained, misguided laboratory mistake. When the first case of coronavirus was transmitted to the shores of the United States of America on January 19, 2020, in his maiden speech on the spread in the US, President Donald Trump described the situation as a “war situation” and he immediately assumed the office of a war commander. The World Health Organization (WHO) described the situation as a global health emergency, a pandemic.
Trump tweeted that, “The WHO really blew it.” The question is, blew what? Was there an agreement that later went sour? No sooner had he made the statement than the US withdrew its funding to the the WHO in a move that shocked the world.
Many are suggesting that there might be a secret deal between the world health body and the Chinese government on one hand and the US on the other hand. If the American President who abinitio had been very supportive of the Chinese government could midway cry wolf by pointing the finger at the same supposed “friend of America,” not discountenancing Trump’s official visits to Beijing to promote diplomatic ties, one is surprised at the President’s outburst. From every indication, the virus seems like a joint project that exploded midway, like a burst oil pipe. Even at that, with the forthcoming presidential election heating up, Trump is seeing the entire situation differently and he is going gaga.
These unseen soldiers have given world leaders sleepless nights and overrun all the world powers, America, Germany, Canada, Britain, China, France, ltaly, Russia and Spain, attacking millions of victims, killing thousands while the victims that were severely wounded and later healed are few in hundreds. Meanwhile ,virtually every country in the world has been attacked by these unseen deadly soldiers. In fact, all the newspapers around the world daily report the coronavirus war as front-page news, specifying the casualty rate of the virus soldiers. Same with electronic media stations. This is a war in which even governments are appealing for better opinions and definitive strategies that can win the war.
These governments openly announce their inability to fashion out a strategy or formula to eliminate these unseen soldiers. “We are handicapped,” governments of the world seem to be saying to their citizens and they are unanimously calling on their people to take their lives in their hands. What a self-defeatist stand!
Is the coronavirus war against mankind changing the world system? The war has reduced the world population so far by 2 per cent. The war has made every government of the world to go bankrupt. Same with private and government institutions that have reduced their staff strength or slashed their renumeration. The activities of the virus soldiers have become the focal point of discussions in every home. No one knows exactly the troop commanders of these ruthless virus soldiers. Their conscription method is alien and unknown in world military tactics. They recruit whosoever crosses their path. They neither shoot a bullet nor fire rockets, yet they are able to capture and run over cities and countries effortlessly. No one knows their camping ground nor has anyone sighted where their battalion or brigade headquarters is located, yet they are swift like a jet and deadly as they are known, choking their victims’ respiratory system.
Such a vicious war cannot be allowed to overwhelm mankind. So, government, just as bulletproof jackets provide security to soldiers fighting an enemy and an armoured vehicle prevents the penetration of bullets, so have they devised methods of avoiding the invisible bullets of coronavirus. Human beings have been asked to keep a distance from each other. They are to cover their nose and mouth with face mask, and stay at home if necessary, and are to regularly wash their hands clean. No wonder, those who have kept these commandments are alive to fight another day.
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Lockdown pointer to criminality (2)
“The Devil finds work for idle hands.”
Sequel to the lockdown that is as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, on the 22nd of March, 2020, the Nigeria Police issued a press statement titled “COVID-19: IGP Orders Zonal AIGs/Command CPs to Enforce Social Restriction Order.”
By that directive, the IGP, Muhammad Adamu, showed that he was a proactive leader. He also directed that all financial institutions and other sensitive institutions be provided with adequate protection around the country. This move might look laudable, unfortunately, what is obviously lacking this time around is supervision of the security agents. Apart from the FCT and Edo State, whose commissioners were reportedly sighted supervising their men, such strict supervivision has been lacking in many state commands. One can, therefore , understand why there were cases of robbery, kidnapping, burgulary and other criminal activities in some states.
Unfortunately, many cases of robbery were unreported because of the lockdown and the instruction to members of the public to avoid gathering at police stations. Those monitoring the lockdown should carry out a review of the situation to fully accommodate easing the hardship, which would eventually re-engage these idle minds and keep them off crime and criminality. Also of much concern is the uninhibited influx of hundreds of nomadic Almajaris into all the South East states despite the presidential lockdown and state border closure.
(Concluded)
