Omicron forces cancellation of planned December ‘Peace Walk’ in Lagos
Lagos Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has placed on hold further preparations ahead of the planned peace walk scheduled for December 2021.
Sanwo-Olu, who disclosed this in a personally signed statement, Thursday, said he is ‘constrained to stand down all preparations for the Walk for Peace so as not to endanger the life of any Lagosian’ amid the outbreak of the Omicron COVID-19 variant.
He said the suspension of the Peace Walk was necessary; due to an “unseen enemy called COVID-19 which began to ravage the world and indeed our nation.”
Sanwo-Olu added that as the Incident Commander in the quest to protect the lives of Lagos residents; “we subjected ourselves to the dictates of science.”
The governor, in an address on November 30, 2021, had called on some popular entertainers in the state to join him on a peace walk.
The peace walk according to the governor would herald the ‘healing of the land in the face of the misinformation and misunderstanding following the recent leak of a report by the Judicial Panel of Enquiry on the #EndSARS debacle.’
“Since my last address to you, the good people of Lagos State on Tuesday 30, November 2021, during which I expressed a desire to lead a Walk for Peace, following the outcome of the work of the Judicial Panel on Restitution for Victims of SARS Related Abuses and Other Matters, I have been inundated with deep expressions of solidarity from various groups and people declaring their readiness to join me on the symbolic walk.
“When the unseen enemy called Covid-19 began to ravage the world and indeed our nation, I assumed the role of the Incident Commander in our quest to protect the lives of our people. We subjected ourselves to the dictates of science. We chose to be guided not by our emotions but expert opinions rooted in science.
“Between Tuesday 30, November 2021 that I made my address and now, we have seen a significant rise in cases associated with the Omicron variant of this pandemic.
“Given this development, I am constrained to stand down all preparations for the Walk for Peace. I will not endanger the life of any Lagosian in my sincere search for peace,” said Sanwo-Olu.