Moses Oba
The Kogi State government has once again denied knowledge of the additional positive Covid-19 case recorded for the state by the National Centre for Disease Control(NCDC) this morning.
The NCDC earlier this morning announced 348 new cases of Covid-19 in the country with Lagos State recording 163, FCT 76 and Rivers State 21.
Delta, Nasarawa and Niger states recorded 8 cases respectively, while Enugu 6, Bauchi, Edo, Ekiti, Ondo and Gombe states recorded 5 cases each respectively. Benue has 4, Ogun 2, while Osun, Plateau, Kogi and Anambra has 1 each to their names.
However, in a Facebook post by the Kogi State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Haruna Saka, he said the ministry and indeed the state government wasn’t aware of the case describing the new figure as a mere assumption.
“The purported New Case: We are not aware of who the patient is, where and when the Test was conducted", the commissioner stated.
And in yet another Press Statement, the State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Kingsley Fanwo said the purported figures from NCDC did not emanate from Kogi.
The Statement:
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*"Not Our Kogi" - Kogi Govt. to NCDC, Insists Kogi Has No Case Yet*
NCDC might be talking about another Kogi State somewhere; definitely not our own. Their desperation has made them lost touch with their rules of engagement and protocols.
The machines they are bringing to Kogi State has been programmed to record a thousand cases for Kogi, using the FMC, Lokoja.
Anyone that goes to FMC Lokoja will be declared by them to have tested positive for CoviD-19; that is their agenda. The sample collection kits they are bringing are already infected with Covid-19. So the moment they insert into the nose, the person automatically tests positive for the virus.
We have no case yet in Kogi State. The State Government Medical and Health Team has moved to Kabba/Bunu LGA.
Contact tracing has started and testing too. Governor Yahaya Bello will lead from the front. We wont allow NCDC kill our people with their fake figures and desperation to get rich quick by toying with the health of the people. We will not allow that in Kogi State.
Their figures are false, fake, fallacious and should be ignored. Kogi is still Covid-19 free till date. We can't be bullied. We won't join the business".
There has been a running mistrust between the government of Kogi State and the NCDC over what the government described as opaqueness in the management of the covid-19 pandemic in the country. The government also accused NCDC of alleged commercialization of the pandemic, an alleged venture the Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello has promised not to be a part of.
The NCDC on it's part denied the allegations saying they are very untrue.