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Fear in Nasarawa governor’s hometown over breach of burial protocol

By Abel Abogonye, Lafia
20 June 2020   |   3:26 am
Gudi Town in Kokona Local Council, the ancestral hometown of Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule, is currently gripped with fear of Coronavirus

Abdullahi Sule. Photo: TWITTER/NASARAWAGOVT

Gudi Town in Kokona Local Council, the ancestral hometown of Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule, is currently gripped with fear of Coronavirus, following a breach in the protocol laid down by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) regarding the burial of COVID-19 victims.

Some residents of Gudi expressed apprehension over the community becoming an epic centre of the pandemic as a result of the breach.

A resident, Danladi Godiya, told The Guardian that some youths hijacked the burial of Haruna Sani, a Special Adviser to the Governor, from NCDC officials. Sani was said to have died of COVID-19.

According to Godiya: “When Haruna Sani’s body was brought to Gudi for burial by NCDC staff, a group of youths, who do not believe in the existence of COVID-19, started shouting in the Hausa language, ‘Haruna Sani did not die of COVID-19.’

“In the midst of the uproar, the group chased the NCDC staff away, broke the sealed casket, brought out the body, washed his remains and conducted the burial in line with Islamic rites.”

The eyewitness added the burial was attended by a mammoth crowd, who came to pay their last respect to the late special adviser.

Other eyewitnesses also lamented that the governor’s presence could not deter the youths from conducting the burial against the NCDC laid- down protocol.

One of them said the governor, who was not comfortable with the action, left the venue before the burial rites commenced.

Meanwhile, the governor has expressed worry over the rising cases of COVID-19 in the state.

Speaking while opening an expanded COVID-19 stakeholder meeting in Lafia, the state capital, Sule explained that Karu and Keffi councils alone accounted for 106 out of the 177 confirmed cases in the stat.

He said the highest number of confirmed cases in the two councils was due to their proximity to Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, which has recorded high cases of the pandemic, adding: “As at Thursday, June 18, there were 177 confirmed cases in the state, out of which 87 were discharged, 53 receiving treatments and 30 about to be transferred to isolation centres for treatments. There were seven deaths.

Sule said despite measures taken by the government to contain its spread, the case was alarming tressing the need to review the situation.

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