The Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership has berated a former Zamfara State Governor, Abdulaziz Yari, for allegedly assaulting an environmental officer enforcing the COVID-19 protocol put in place to curb the spread of the dreaded virus at the nation’s airports.
In a release issued by CACOL on behalf of the organisation’s Chairman, Debo Adeniran, and signed by its Coordinator, Administration and Programmes, Tola Oresanwo, the anti-corruption group said it received “with concern and disapproval news making the rounds to the effect that the former governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari, allegedly assaulted an airport official who was doing what he was paid to do.”
Recall that the airport officer, on Saturday, at the Aminu Kano International Airport in Kano State, reportedly tried to disinfect the luggage of the former governor, who was a passenger, but Yari allegedly pushed him away, claiming he was a very important personality.
CACOL said, “We condemn the attitude of this former governor in its entirety. His action is reckless and the height of irresponsibility. By his action, he has portrayed himself as an enemy of the state, going by the enormity of the effects of the COVID 19 pandemic on the country.
“One would have expected a supposed ‘Very Important Personality’ to support and abide with all directives and protocols laid down to stem the tide of this pandemic. It is lamentable that a man of his status would make nonsense of a well thought out arrangement and protocol, aimed at curtailing the spread of the dreaded virus.”
The organisation said the former governor’s attitude showed that many of Nigeria’s past and present public office holders saw themselves as supermen and demigods that should always be revered, adored and worshipped wherever they were.
“Can he try that absurdity in a foreign land? Little wonder many of them are so bold to engage in various acts of corruption and act as if they are above the law, while holding public offices and forgetting that power is ephemeral,” it said.
The CACOL Chairman added, “Against this unfortunate aberration, we therefore call on the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria to put mechanisms in place that would prevent recurrence of this unfortunate incidence and spell out sanctions that would be meted out to anyone who violates the COVID 19 protocols so as to serve as deterrent to others, while calling on the former governor to publicly apologise for his action.”
