President Goodluck Jonathan has described the late Patrick Sawyer (pictured above), the Liberian-American credited with introducing Ebola to Nigeria, as a ‘crazy man’ who defied warnings of Liberian health authorities against travelling out of the West African so he could be observed for the virus.

Speaking on Monday during the annual interfaith conference in Abuja, the president also implored Nigerians to shun burial ceremonies for now because based on his conversations with director-general of World Health Organisation, Dr Margaret Chan, he could say that 60 per cent of Ebola transmissions have occurred during the burials of victims.

The Cable reports that the President said, “Some people like burial ceremonies. This is not the time for burial ceremony,” the president continued. “Somebody is dead, he is dead. Leave him there. If he is dead, he is already dead. This is not the best time for those ceremonies.

“Based on the information available to me, about 60 per cent of the cases of the virus were transmitted during burials. There is need for Nigerians to be mindful of burials.

Patrick Sawyer, who introduced the virus to Nigeria, contacted it during the burial of his sister, which he attended.” Obviously miffed by Sawyer’s decision to travel to Nigeria at a time he was already a risk for the virus, Jonathan said: “Sawyer that brought this Ebola to Nigeria, his sister died of Ebola. And he started acting somehow; his country asked him not to leave the country, let them observe him, but the crazy man decided to leave and found his way here.”

The president assured Nigerian citizens that his government would do its best to contain the virus. “On Wednesday, I will meet with governors of the states, and they will come along with their commissioners of health. “We must make sure that every state is prepared. Where they lack, the federal government will support them.”

Source – The Cable