An American pastor who prefers to remain anonymous for fear that his views might be misconstrued has expressed worry over the way Nigeria is going about the covid-19 case stating that the country may regret its actions for a long time
The pastor who is widely-read and generally quite well-informed citizen of the world, especially with respect to current events and world history said in a letter sent to Church Times that he has also been deeply perplexed about the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
He noted in the one page piece that the Nigerian government “somewhat blindly follow the example of other nations by enacting measures that I see as enormously suicidal to Nigeria’s social and economic well-being and survival. I believe the damage that is being done will not be erased for many years to come, and that eventually large numbers could die as a result.”
The pastor noted that he was mostly distressed by the willingness of otherwise intelligent people to seemingly ignore clear facts in front of us.
He writes, “The proven presence of the coronavirus in Nigeria remains stunningly low, despite weeks and weeks of dire warnings. The officially claimed Nigerian deaths from the virus are still hovering somewhere slightly above ZERO. Let’s face it: in a county of 220 million people, 226 deaths [as reported by the NCDC on May 25, 2020] is statistically virtually ZERO.
“To put it into perspective, I would beg any fair-minded person to take a cool look at readily-available statistics. These statistics are on the World Health Organization and Nigerian Centre for Disease Control websites, as well as elsewhere. They tell the story in stark terms that do not lie.
“According to the WHO, the #1 cause of death in Nigeria is influenza and pneumonia. Every year MORE THAN 300,000 NIGERIANS DIE from this single cause. That is roughly equal to the total number of corona virus deaths thus far ON THE ENTIRE GLOBE. Yet it totally defies all logic that we find Nigeria freaking out over 226 coronavirus deaths! It completely defies understanding, especially considering the further fact that the chances of one dying from coronavirus if it is contracted is proving to be LESS THAN ONE PERCENT. In short, the coronavirus is not the deadly disease we have been told it is.”
He continues, “Many, many other comparisons are available. For example, the WHO says that every year more than 17,000 Nigerians die from terrorism. This means that during this pandemic roughly 4,500 Nigerians have been martyred – while we freak out over 226 coronavirus deaths! There is strong anecdotal evidence that martyrdom of Christians has accelerated in the north during this period.
“Why are we Christians not up in arms over that statistic? Why are we silent? What it means is that for every coronavirus death more than TWENTY Nigerian Christians are slaughtered in cold blood. Four of my personal friends were brutally shot in cold blood two weeks ago in northern Nigeria. Do we even care?
“Nigeria is the 7th most populous country in the world. According to the WHO, every day an average of 9,900 Nigerians die from all causes. Nowadays, one, or at most two, of those deaths are from the coronavirus.
“In the total number of coronavirus deaths, Nigerian ranks #61. Check it out. Not only that, but our coronavirus deaths per capita places Nigeria as #166 in the entire world. The inevitable conclusion? Nigeria is one of the SAFEST COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD for coronavirus death. The statistics do not lie.
“These are not my personal statistics – they are there for everyone to see! The naked truth is that it is EXTREMELY DIFFICULT to contract the corona virus in Nigeria. Yet we have accepted the international hype touted by non-stop liberal news outlets, including CNN, which is regrettably not driven by journalistic balance as much as by shameful politics.
“Maybe I am blind, but it appears quite clear to me that many politicians worldwide are on a fresh power grab enabled by their new-found ability to order unwilling citizens to do their bidding like so many dumb sheep, stoked by raw fear. Frankly, I am not buying it! I am neither naïve nor uninformed, despite the myriad of “experts” telling us every day that Armageddon is awaiting us if we do not continue to hunker down for them until we cry “uncle.
“Our world is no stranger to pandemics. I will not bore with the details, but there are at least TEN previous world pandemics with ten million or more deaths, and two that numbered in the hundreds of millions. However, this current one has not even gotten half-way to one million and is now beating a retreat. Can anyone understand why I am so puzzled?
“One thing that is very clear is that Nigeria cannot afford the lock-down through which it has been taken. I remain totally unconvinced that there is any evidence it has saved even one life, but we do know that the lockdown itself has cost many lives and livelihoods. It is the saddest and most destructive domestic disaster I have seen in this country.
I very strongly urge you to look at the statistics. I have only touched on the tip of that information.”
