COVID-19 isn't a Leveller in Africa.

The assertion that, all men are born equal, should be peculiar to the western world. It’s a hoax if Africans chorus that statement; this is because, since the inception of some African countries (I know of Nigeria), the elites have already been separated from the masses. The children of the rich don’t attend the same school with the children of the poor. The elites don’t welcome their new born child in the same hospital as the poor. It is impossible that the path of the rich and the poor will cross at any point in life, except by God’s benevolence or the hard work of the poor. Everything about the rich is over the sea; their hospitals, estates, school for their children, vacation place, etcetera; this is because those at the helm have mismanaged the polity and selfish cornered national resources to themselves. Why then did they suddenly want to count the masses among themselves because of COVID-19?

Let me say it again: COVID-19 isn’t a leveller. It didn’t bridge the gap between the rich and the poor. Neither did it put them on the same plane. At least in Africa where I reside. If COVID-19 had began from Africa, African leaders will flee abroad leaving their citizens behind for death and suffering. Alas, it engulfed the world, leaving everyone with no where to run to.

In my native country, Nigeria, everyone knows that the President doesn’t stay at home like this. He would have had a meeting or conference to attend, one way or the other, or would have visited his Doctors in London. But there is no safe haven on the globe for anyone. He’s forced to start at home.

It is only before God that all men are equal; and maybe in enlightened climes where the rule of law can deal with anyone irrespective of their societal status. Those who say this pandemic is a leveller in Africa are the ruling elites trying to gain pity from the citizens. They want to create the 'we-are-together-in-this' feeling among any gullible populace that they can find.

Here, the poor and the rich are not in the same isolation/treatment ward in the hospitals. In testing and care, the rich are given more preference than the poor. If complications arise from treatments, the rich — depending on the level of affluence — know how to secretly smuggle themselves out of the nation. We’re that lawless. The rich are comfortable with the #stayathome order; they have sufficient to eat, drink, and waste in enormous quantity. But, the poor are the one’s bored, tired and hungry at home; and might end up being depressed. The same poor are the one who might not have a job to return to after the pandemic.

In Nigeria, we have always been on lockdown. Lockdown from accessing relevant opportunities; lockdown from enjoying the dividend of democracy; lockdown from even distribution of the nation’s resources; lockdown from getting fair, equal and rapid justice. Lockdown from enjoying human rights and freedom of expression; lockdown from letting our votes count during elections and every other kind of lockdown the ever dilapidating state of Nigeria brings. Why then do they now say that COVID-19 has balanced the difference between the rich and the poor?

As Mary Wollstonecraft said, 'Virtues can only flourish among equals.' If we were equal, virtues will flourish. But where are the virtues? There is still a difference between the rich and the poor in a pandemic. Let’s just stick with the fact that there will always be, instead of letting the ruling elites deceive us with their sugar coated tongue, in a bid to gain pity. 'The year was 2081, and everyone was finally equal’, said Kurt Vonnegut.

Stay at home. Stop the spread.