Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State has rejected the use of the COVID-19 vaccine, claiming the jabs are meant to kill people.
Nigeria is currently going through the second and more deadly wave of COVID-19 pandemic with an average of 1,000 cases daily being announced by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
Nigerian authorities have also announced that the vaccine will soon arrive the country, promising that whichever vaccines that are approved by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 will be safe for Nigerians.
President Muhammadu Buhari and his Vice, Prof Yemi Osinbajo will receive the vaccine on live TV, joining other world leaders such as Joe Biden, Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, among others, who are encouraging their citizens to embrace its use.
However, the Kogi State number one citizen sees things differently. While addressing a crowd in a viral video, Bello said the vaccine is meant to kill people instead of being a source of healing.
“Vaccines are being produced in less than one year of COVID-19. There is no vaccine yet for HIV, malaria, cancer, headache and for several other diseases that are killing us. They want to use the (COVID-19) vaccines to introduce the disease that will kill you and us. God forbid,” he said.
“We should draw our minds back to what happened in Kano during the Pfizer polio vaccines that crippled and killed our children. We have learned our lessons.
“If they say they are taking the vaccines in the public, allow them take their vaccines. Don’t say I said you should not take it but if you want to take it open your eyes before you take the vaccines.”
Meanwhile, the NCDC, on Tuesday reported 1,617 new cases of COVID-19 in the country, with Lagos high on the list with 776 positive cases.
Kaduna, Kwara and the Federal Capital Territory also recorded high numbers with the agency announcing, 147, 131 and 102 respectively.
The country now has a total of 112,004 confirmed cases, 89,939 discharged patients and 1,449 deaths.
