Gov. Yahaya Bello Rejects NCDC COVID-19 result Over Kogi State

Gov. Yahaya Bello Rejects NCDC COVID-19 result Over Kogi 

The Governor of Kogi State,  Gov.  Yahaya Bello rejected the COVID-19 report of the NCDC cases in Kogi State.

Statement by the Kogi State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Saka Haruna Audu, on Thursday denied the two index cases identified by the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC).

The NCDC reported on its website that two index cases had been recorded in Kogi as of Wednesday, May 27, 2020, making a total of 8733 cases in the country.

Commissioner for Health, Dr Saka Haruna however described the claim by NCDC as fallacy.

The statement personally signed by him read:

“Kogi State till this very moment is Covid-19 free. We have developed full testing capacity and have conducted hundreds of tests so far which have returned negative.

“We have also continued to insist that we will not be a party to any fictitious Covid-19 claims which is why we do not recognise any Covid-19 test conducted by any Kogite outside the boundaries of the State except those initiated by us. Any attempt to force us to announce a case of Covid-19 will be vehemently rejected.

“We continue to enjoin our people to take all necessary precautions to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic into the State and give no listening ears to rumour peddlers and mischief makers.

“We are more than prepared to secure the life of our people and have no interest in playing politics with their Health concerns.”

With the latest spate of denial, the controversy that has befallen the testing and reporting of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Nigeria seems not abating. A number of states have querried the NCDC report at some point. Bauchi, Akwa Ibom, Kano and many other states have faulted the numbers attributed to them in the past.

Kogi and Cross-River states were the only two states in the country yet to officially record confirmed coronavirus cases. There had been accusations and counter-accusation over the impasse.

The NCDC has accused the Kogi state government of concealing COVID-19 cases and frustrating a transparent testing of suspected victims. Governor Yahaya Bello however fired back, accusing the disease management federal parastatal of pressurising states to make fictitious claims of COVID-19 infection in exchange for financial grants.

The Cross-River governor, Prof. Ben Ayade has also joined issues with the NCDC, positing that the testing methods adopted for COVID-19 were mostly flawed and cannot produce a reliable result.