A political activist, Comrade Timi Frank, has condemned reports of harassment of citizens by some military personnel and other security agents enforcing the lockdown directive of the Federal Government.
President Muhammadu Buhari had, in a nationwide broadcast, ordered a stay-at-home for residents of Lagos, Ogun and the FCT in a bid to contain the spread of the COVID-19.
Frank, in a statement in Abuja, described any form of harassment against Nigerians at the present moment as one suffering too many.
He urged the agents of the military, police and other security agencies enforcing the present lockdown across the country to be civil in their approach in order not to unduly increase the burden of hunger already being borne by poor and vulnerable Nigerians.
Frank, who was a former deputy national publicity secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), noted that the reported cases of assault against Nigerians on essential duties like Journalists, Doctors and telecomunication staff in Lagos and Abuja have no place in a civilized setting like Nigeria.
While questioning the deployment of military personnel into the streets to enforce a stay-at-home order, the Bayelsa-born political activist insisted that apart from workers on essential duties duly exempted by the President in his broadcast, there were countless Nigerians that might need urgent medical attention in the affected areas.
He said: “It should be noted that poverty is ravaging the land and the saying that ‘an hungry man is an angry man’ might apply if there is no modicum of civility in handling the situation by the military and other security agencies.
“If the government actually wants the people to stay at home, amenities like stable electricity, water and other necessary palliatives must be provided.
“Even as poor as Rwanda is, President Paul Kagame has been able to provide enough comfort for the citizens to enable them stay at home without any resort to the use of force.”
Frank, however appealed to citizens to strictly abide by the stay-at-home order to speed up the containment of the deadly virus.
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