Okowa threatens tough measures against stay-at-home defaulters

Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta state has threatened to apply stricter measures to check disobedience of the state government’s directive on the lockdown in the state over the COVID-19 pandemic.

This is against the backdrop of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) announcement on Tuesday that a confirmed case of the virus had been recorded in the state.

In a broadcast in Asaba on Wednesday, Gov. Okowa commended Deltans who had strictly adhered to the lockdown regulations from April 1, but warned that enabling laws would be applied on those disobeying the sit-at-home directive.

He expressed appreciation to all Deltans and non-Deltans in the state for their cooperation, saying: “We are on day eight of the lockdown and I know that a lot of our people have been cooperating with the directive of the government.

“Unfortunately, a few persons have tended to disobey orders and I want to urge every Deltan that from today onwards until the 14 days, to please, for the sake of everyone, for the sake of humanity, obey the orders of government, otherwise, they will be caught up by the arms of the law.

“The lockdown order was given because it was necessary; it is also lawful because I have already signed into law a regulation which empowers us to take action against those who would disobey the lockdown order.

“I want every Deltan to appreciate that it is for the good of the public; for all Deltans who have cooperated with us, I have sent messages of encouragement; I thank them.”

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The governor announced that the state recorded its index case of the pandemic on April 7 and that the patient had already been moved into one of the four management centres for the virus in the state.

According to him, the person in question has been in Delta for some weeks, so, he did not just come in from another state during the course of the lockdown.

Gov. Okowa said: “At the moment, we are doing our tracking; we are getting more information on the case and when we have more information, we would be able to communicate to the state.

“But, it is the right of that person only to be able to publicly tell us that he or she is infected.

“It is not for me to release the name; it is for me to pass information that needs to be passed to Deltans, but the person did not come from another state; he has been within the state in the last few weeks.”

According to him, there is a process for management, there is a process for notification, asserting thi it is unlawful for any private hospital or public hospital to have a case that looks like that of COVID-19 and decide to probably keep quiet over it or to hide it.

The governor also called on the people to stop all forms of rumour mongering about the pandemic, especially in the social media, adding that “there has been a lot of insinuations concerning the fact that a member of the state House of Assembly has contracted this infection.

“That is not true. No member of the House of Assembly has contracted COVID-19; it is important that I put the records right, but whosoever that contracts it, it is not a death sentence neither should any person be stigmatised in any form.’