Debunking the Myth on
Vaccination and Medical Violence against the Igbos by the Nigerian Army
“He asked me whether he should allow his people to come out for the
exercise. I told him, no, that if we could not stop them from killing us with
guns, we shouldn’t allow them to kill us with syringe.”[1] –
Chief Ezeife
The quote above
epitomises the hoax (which I refer to as a myth in this article) that engulfed some south-eastern and south-southern states of Nigeria in the month of October this year. The myth is about
the peddled idea that the Nigerian Army through vaccination is executing
medical violence against the Igbos. The South East geo-political zone was thrown
into confusion after claims on social media went viral that some soldiers
entered some primary and secondary schools and were forcefully injecting pupils
with poisonous substances allegedly causing monkey pox to depopulate the South
East.[2]
On the one hand,
the social media facilitated the rapidity of the fertilization and proliferation
of the myth; on the other hand, the political tension between the Nigerian army
and the Igbo separatist group (IPOM) accentuated the permeability and
acceptability of the myth by the highly credulous and vulnerable masses in the
affected communities/states particularly in areas where the Nigerian Army
carried out Operation Python Dance (Egwu Eke II). Without mincing words, the frenzy and
the tension created by the myth (attempted medical violence against the Igbos
by the Nigerian army) reached its apogee when there was aggravated panic in the
communities and massive stampeding at school gates leading to withdrawal of
pupils from public and private schools by parents and guardians.
It took concerted efforts to invalidate this myth, Nigeria’s Defence Headquarters (DHQ) through the Director of Defence Information, urged Nigerians to disregard allegations about the spread of monkey pox through military medical outreaches. Using traditional media and the new media; the Federal government, Ministry of Health, the state governments, religious leaders and community leaders joined the efforts in debunking the myths.[3]
Fundamentally, disease like monkey pox continues to project public health problem with social effects that are complex and diverse, involving issues of class, politics, and religion and sometimes attracting public unrest, civil disobedience, and rioting. Extant literatures referred to various instances of resistances which dates back to the 18th century and has persisted to present times in various forms in different countries.[4] Since the time of Hippocrates (460 – 377 BC), evident in history of disease and epidemiology is the problem of causation. However, the recent public upheaval that pervaded south-eastern states of Nigeria due to the outbreak of monkey pox is not based on facts rather on myth which had been adequately invalidated.
[4] For example see SEAN BURRELL and
GEOFFREY GILL, The Liverpool Cholera Epidemic of 1832 and Anatomical
Dissection—Medical Mistrust and Civil Unrest, Oxford University Press, Journal
of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, Vol. 60, No. 4 (OCTOBER2005),
pp. 478-498
