Coronavirus is enemy without physical weapon, says Governor Abiodun

The Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun has admitted that coronavirus is enemy without physical weapon, which has no interest in bounties of war, but only interest it has is to turn children into orphans; turn women into widows; turn men into widowers; and make parents, childless.

Penpushing reports that, Abiodun made this observation and reality known on Friday at a press conference while announcing extension order the lockdown for additional one week effective from Monday in the State

‘In the last four months, humanity has lost close to 300,000 lives to an enemy which carries no physical weapon. We have all seen that this enemy has no interest in bounties of war. The only interest of this enemy of humanity seems to have is to turn children into orphans; turn women into widows; turn men into widowers; and make parents, childless’, he stated

‘Presently, our common humanity is still battling to save the lives of almost 4million people. I pray this people receive the same grace and mercy of the over 1million that have recovered from COVID-19’, Abiodun emphasised.

The  Governor in the announcement also ordered compulsory wearing of facemasks by all residents explaining that this became necessary following reports of non challance of number of residents to the guidelines and rules to prevent spread of coronavirus.

‘Reports reaching us have shown that many of our people are showing utter disregard for the precautionary guidelines, international best practices and safety measures rolled out, especially, during the window of relaxation of the lockdown’

Penpushing further reports that, Abiodun said, another reason was the proximity of Ogun State to Lagos, which is the epi-centre of the coronavirus pandemic in the country. stressing that the development should not be taken with kid gloves

‘We should always remember that we are the closest in proximity to Lagos, the epi-centre of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country. It is not a matter to be taken lightly. As the number of positive cases in Lagos increases, we, in Ogun State, must be concerned about possible spill over, particularly as our people continue to travel across state lines, despite warnings and the ban on interstate travels’.

‘You, the entire people of Ogun State, have not elected me to make easy decisions. And tough decisions, we have to make. Now, to preserve the lives of our people, we are persuaded to extend the current modified lockdown, which has been slightly eased, for another one weeks alongside the current guidelines. This will be reviewed, as usual, on a weekly basis’.

The Governor explained that, windows of relaxation will continue to be available on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, from 7.00am to 5.00pm on each day of the window of relaxation,adding that the daily curfew and ban on non-essential of inter-State travel as directed by President Mohammed Buhari still stand.

‘Wearing of a face mask is mandatory. It is important to note that we have provided, and continue to provide, facemasks to public servants, groups and associations. However, government alone cannot provide facemasks to all;, he stated.

‘ Individuals that have a need to go out have personal responsibility to procure and use facemasks in public, as the enforcement will continue to be strengthened with full weight of law meted out to violators. All other physical distancing measures as announced last week remain in in force’

‘I want to reassure our people that there is no reason for panic. As your Government, we will continue to do what is right, fair and proper for the benefit of all the people of our dear Ogun State’.

‘We have continued to ensure that we increase our pace and widen the coverage of our testing process. As at today, we have screened over 10,000 people and tested over 700. In addition to that, we have intensified our contact tracing capacity and have traced over 551 contacts of the COVID-19 positive patients’.

‘ We are doing this to detect and treat people who are already infected rather than leaving them undetected which will be more detrimental because this will increase community transmission’, he said.