It’s easy to get caught up in the uniformity of conventional activities that make up our daily lives, so much so that when something as unimaginable and bizarre as a pandemic threatens to disrupt that normality, we dismiss it as nonsense. Such is the unfortunate case of Kano.

Kano, like every other state in the country was notified of the imminent threat of the recent coronavirus outbreak, and subsequently advised to take precaution, they did not, neither government and nor people. Instead, acting ignorantly, a large number of the residents in Kano dismissed the warnings as no more than a scare and went on a crusade against the existence of the coronavirus. The government, on the other hand, did very little to quell this resistance and instead encouraged careless acts of public gathering.

In a bid to prove their conviction, videos allegedly depicting Kano people washing their hands and drinking the supposedly ‘infected water’ were uploaded on social media.

#NCDCFailedKano #COVID19
No!
Kano Failed Kano.
Aboki Na Aboki.
See the evidence here ?
?pic.twitter.com/AnNlF00HU1

— ?? Obaino jay ?? (@obaino_jay) April 23, 2020

 

As if that was not enough, a number of persons came out in droves, in what can be described as a protest, dismissing the COVID-19 news as nothing more than a scare and a way to frustrate them even further.

When you say #NCDCFailedKano but northern people choose to protest against corona than fight it pic.twitter.com/6CNslmWLaX

— E.Cesar (@nn_nicholas) April 23, 2020

To look at it so plainly would be downright unfair to the people of Kano. In their estimation, they had a good reason to rebel, and that is because of the lack of transparency synonymous with governments in Nigeria. Throughout history the Nigerian government have been so unapologetic ally ambiguous, that even at a sensitive time like this, the average Nigerian still finds it difficult to believe whatever it is that they say.

Today, the #NCDCfailedKano quietly made its way onto the streets of Twitter and users were not having it. There seemed to be a universal agreement that the surge in the COVID-19 cases in Kano is as a result of the combined ignorance of the people and negligence of the federal government. In little over a week, Kano has seen a substantial increase in the rate of COVID-19 cases, rising from barely a dozen to 73, and what’s more troubling is the rate at which elderly people are suddenly dying. As if that is not enough, there are reports that its testing centre has been contaminated; meaning that tests would for the time being, be run in their neighboring, Abuja.

Arewa Twitter never ceases to amaze me.

Rather than hold your governor responsible for his gross ineptitude, you are trending #NCDCFailedKano
Tomorrow ya'll will run to the mosque. Stop turning every problem into tribal and regional war. Call out your governor.

— Unique_Osas (@RealUniqueOsas) April 23, 2020

Lagos State Goverment dont request funds from FG to fight #COVID19. They used their resources b4 N10 billion FG intervention. Kano people should hold Ganjuje accountable. He has failed Kano not NCDC.

#NCDCFailedKano.

— ABDUL FIGHTER (@askirawa1) April 23, 2020

These mishaps are prompting people to worry and shift blames, thus the NCDC is the latest defaulter. Had people truly looked at the facts, it would have been easier to point it out truly, the Kano government handled this situation very poorly.