COVID-19: Government should declare nationwide lockdown if Nigerians fail to comply with directives, says Tinubu

A National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu, has said he would support calls lockdown in the country over coronavirus outbreak if Nigerians failed to comply with several directives introduced to contain spread of the pandemic.

Several measures have so far been introduced by the federal and state governments to prevent further surge in the cases of the pandemic across the nation.

Such measures, among others, had included shutting down of schools across the country and ban on large social and religious gatherings.

Compliance with the directives, however, had been a source of concerns among several Nigerians, with fears in some quarters statistics of those infected with the virus in the country could increase significantly in the coming days, if drastic measures are not taken.

While some have called for complete lockdown of the country, some beileve such measure would further compound the problem.

Speaking on Tuesday after a closed-door meeting with Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu at the State House, Marina, the former governor of Lagos State said a lockdown may be required in the country if people continue to disregard various directives introduced by governments at all levels.

He said: “We need to observe social distancing. It is a new culture that we have to abide with. I will support total lockdown if the government decides to do that. I am in support of it. There should be a total lockdown if the government observes that we are not complying. He explained that many countries have been locked down over rising cases of coronavirus.

“I could listen attentively to Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Boris Johson yesterday (Tuesday); and Great Britain is under lockdown now. If we have to do it, the government will do it.”