Cancel PH rally and avoid Ebola, group asks Jonathan

Doing Democracy Movement (DDM),  a non-governmental organisation, has urged President Goodluck Jonathan to cancel a rally scheduled for Saturday at the Liberation stadium, Port Harcourt, to avoid the spread of the highly-contagious Ebola disease that has now been established in the city.

The rally, which has held in the southeast and southwest regions of the country, is being put together by the Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN) to apparently gather support for the president ahead of next year’s presidential election.

However, DDM is opposing the rally, arguing that going ahead to organise it would constitute a big threat to public health safety and complicate the risk of spreading among the city’s residents.

As a preventive measure against the disease, the federal government and World Health Organisation earlier warned against large gatherings and DDM believes that going ahead with the programme would amount to disregarding the warning.

“It would not be fair and just to jeopardise the efforts to contain the spread of the disease by allowing such rally to hold at this time in Port Harcourt,” said convener of DMM, Anyakwee Nsirimovu.

“Mr. President, we urge you to take your responsibility seriously by curtailing the spread of this deadly disease among our people, by calling the leaders, members and all persons involved in the planned TAN rally and campaign on your behalf in Port Harcourt, to immediately put off the idea, at least until Rivers State is free of the Ebola Virus Disease.

“This has nothing to do with politics, Mr. President; we have no personal grouse against TAN or their campaigning for you. Ebola has become a major challenge to public health and is now a critical concern to our nation, West Africa and indeed the world.

“We are all aware of the informed professional medical advice on the need to avoid body contacts, which is basically the easiest and common form of transmission of the Ebola Virus Disease. We are using this platform to plead with you and all concerned, to call off the planned campaign rally in the interest of adhering to the advice of ‘avoiding body contacts’, which you know is inevitable if the rally is allowed to hold.”