A faction of the All Progressive Congress (APC) Kogi State chapter has registered her concern over the disagreement between the government of Kogi State and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
In a statement signed by Demola Oyedokun, the APC section member expressed shock that the governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello who has enjoyed all the necessary helps and assistance from President Muhammed Buhari has turned to an over night saboteur to frustrate the efforts of the President in the fight against the novel Corona Virus.
The leader called on Buhari to call Bello to order as the sickness is real and might already be killing people in the state. He explains that there are a lot death occurring everyday in remote communities which the government might not be aware and can not be sure of the causes of such deaths.
Recall that Bello has attempted to isolate representatives of the NCDC who visited the state about three days ago on fact finding exercise and to assist the state in the fight against Covid-19.
OBSERVERS TIMES reported how Kogi state Governor sent back delegations of officials of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) was this week deployed to Kogi to assess the state’s response.
He said too much panic and fears have been spread about COVID-19 as if it was the end of the world.
The 44-year-old said the disease is being massively marketed everywhere in the media while shifting priorities from other important things.
“There are so many merchants now marketing COVID-19 as if that is our priority.
“Our struggling economy that Mr President is trying to revive, we’re further killing it,” the governor said.
He said his government has done its best to make sure it did not spread panic about the outbreak, and claimed that death rate has dropped drastically during the period of the pandemic because he provided ‘that leadership’.
However, he lamented that the state’s ability to generate revenue has been badly-hit by the heavy-handed response of other governments of surrounding states.
Bello further claimed that he has thoroughly educated himself about the coronavirus, a novel disease, and that its symptoms are nothing new.
“Is this the first time we’re having these kinds of symptoms in Nigeria?
“Haven’t we been living with it and teaching ourselves and moving on?” he questioned the officials.
Bello also accused the NCDC and the World Health Organisation (WHO) of verbally increasing the mortality rate of the coronavirus disease to create panic.
He said Nigeria has lost fewer people to COVID-19 (107 deaths, as of May 7) than to other problems like Boko Haram terrorists, bandits, kidnappers, cattle rustlers, road accidents, hunger, malaria, heart attack, child mortality, and Lassa fever.
He further bizarrely called on Nigerians to be ‘courageous enough’ to tell the disease to return to China, where it was first detected in December 2019.
He said, “We should be courageous enough to say that COVID-19 has no space in Nigeria.
“Not by taking samples. You have over 2,000 across the country, what are you doing with them?
“You have released over 400 or 500, what did you use in treating them that cannot be publicised because we call it a war?
“During war, every solution is needed. You don’t leave your people to be consumed by the war.”
The Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, announced on Friday, May 8 that the team has returned to Abuja without accomplishing its mission.
Reports had previously indicated Bello ordered that the officials be quarantined for 14 days at an isolation centre.
“New efforts will be made to engage Kogi State authorities for resolution of the differences,”Ehanire said.
The highly infectious coronavirus disease has infected over 3.9 million people across the world in five months, killing over 271,000.
