The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has warned that the 2027 general election could be postponed if the ongoing Ebola outbreak spreads widely across the country.
The agency’s Director-General, Jide Idris, gave the warning during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today, saying public safety would take priority if the situation became severe.
For now, however, he said there was no reason to consider changing the election timetable.
“We hope the election will not be postponed, but if the thing gets wide enough, that might be considered. As at now, there is no need for that,” Idris said.
The 2027 general election is scheduled to begin in January, with political parties already preparing for the polls.
NCDC Rejects Claims Of Political Motive
Idris also pushed back against suggestions that the government could use the outbreak for political purposes, insisting that public health emergencies should not become political tools.
“We in the health sector did not use disease issues as a political weapon,” he said.
He explained that Nigeria had been tracking the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and was aware that international travel and movement across borders could bring the virus into the country.
“This Ebola thing started in DRC a couple of months ago and we were tracking,” he said, pointing to population movement, international flights and activities at the country’s entry points as possible routes through which the virus could arrive.
Idris maintained that any decision to postpone the election would depend on how far the outbreak spreads and the risks it poses to public health, not political considerations.
Nigeria confirmed an imported case of the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola in Abuja on October 20. The patient, a 42-year-old woman who travelled from Uganda, was evacuated to Switzerland on October 26 for further medical care.
Meanwhile, health authorities are continuing to monitor people who may have been exposed to the patient and have urged Nigerians to cooperate with contact-tracing teams.
