The Kogi State government yesterday distanced itself from what it described as the “provocative position” of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) on the COVID-19 controversies in the state, insisting that the medical body was “probably enraged that the state has refused to join the coronavirus money-making train”.
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It also rejected the latest COVID-19 cases reported by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) in the state, saying the Center is so desperate to impose the pandemic on Kogi State.
Speaking with journalists in Abuja, the state commissioner for Information and Communication, Mr Kingsley Fanwo, who described the position of the NMA on the matter as “irresponsible, ludicrous and unacceptable to the state”, maintained that no one can cause unnecessary panic in the State for “commercial benefits”.
He said, “We are not ignorant of the moves by some vested interests to compromise institutions and families to forcefully accept what doesn’t exist. We are unmoved by those ignoble and unpatriotic moves.
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“Our interest is to ensure the healthcare and wellbeing of the Kogi people. We cannot build conclusions on fake premises and expect truth. As far as we are concerned, there is no case yet in Kogi State.
“NCDC has done everything possible to foul their rules. A patient tested in a facility within the FCT is being recorded for Kogi State. They have exposed to the world what we had known all along that they have mismanaged Covid-19 in Nigeria. The results remain unacceptable and it will be in their interest to remove Kogi from their celebrated list of Covid-19 affected states”.
Fanwo urged the NMA to place professionalism ahead and above pecuniary gains, saying it was high time the Association put the interest of the people first.
Similarly Kogi State government slammed the NCDC over the latest COVID-19 cases reported by the Centre, saying it is an act of desperation to impose the pandemic on the state.
In a statement signed by the state commissioner for Health, Dr Saka Haruna Audu, the state expressed urged Nigerians to dig deeper to see the handwriting clearly written on the wall on how desperate NCDC was to nail Kogi State with a COVID-19 case as well as how low the XCentre is willing to stoop to do so.
Audu said Nigerians are in the know of the stand-off between Kogi State and NCDC, which is not unconnected to the stance of the state to resist the ascription of fictitious confirmed cases of COVID-19 to their state to suit a preformed narrative they believe is the agenda of NCDC, which is to claim every state in Nigeria has COVID-19.
NCDC had recently claimed a 62 year old man and his son from Kabba local government area of Kogi State tested positive to COVID-19.
But refuting the claim, the commissioner said, “In the heat of this stand-off, we woke up one morning to hear that NCDC has recorded two cases of Covid-19 for Kogi State. Your suspicion will be as good as ours hence we set out to investigate the claim and here are our findings. “According to the son, his father, who is a Hypertensive/Diabetic had attended a burial ceremony where he was stung by bees. He then developed facial problems from the sting and was taken to the Hospital. The facial swellings subsided but the body weakness persisted where eventually the managing Doctor discovered he had High Blood Sugar, which the Doctor continued to manage.
“The Doctor confirmed that there was no time the patient presented with fever, cough or difficulty in breathing. The only complaint was that of general body weakness. The Doctor had no reason to refer the patient to FMC Lokoja except on the insistence of the patient because they felt he was not getting better.
