Nigeria is treating its newly reported Ebola case in Abuja with the kind of calm that should make us all a little uneasy. The case has been in the news since October 20, and yet the response from authorities has felt more routine than urgent, more administrative than alarmed.
There is an old Yoruba warning that speaks to exactly this moment: if you do not cut the sapling of an Iroko tree while it is still small, it will grow so large that it demands unbearable ẹbọ, spiritual sacrifices, before it yields. Columnist Festus Adedayo reaches for that proverb deliberately, and it lands.
The piece draws on history to make its case, reminding readers that Ebola is not a disease that rewards slow responses or polite indifference. The title alone carries weight, pointing to a pandemic that once claimed the life of an Aláàfin, a king, the kind of loss that reorders an entire world.
What happens next in Abuja will say a great deal about whether Nigeria has truly learned anything from its past encounters with this virus.
Originally published by Premium Times.