Raji Yekinni and Fareedah Taofeeq

FULL TEXT


A viral WhatsApp post that has also found its way to Facebook and other blogs suggests that the Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello said the federal government is playing politics with the Coronavirus and overreacting.
The claim accused the federal government and specifically the NCDC of marketing the coronavirus and instilling fear and hardship. It also accused the government of trying to make money at the detriment of our economy and the people.


VERIFICATION


Having Gone through the verified handle of The Governor, Statement alleging NCDC for manipulations, marketing of COVID-19 cases figures has not been made by the governor.
Recalled that, a reporter was arrested four days ago for Alleging  the Governor of saying the canopy isolation center that collapsed was built for 7 billion naira.
After his arrest, he has apologized to the public for misleading them with wrong information. Watch the video, here.


The last time the Governor lashed out at NCDC was after some of their staff that was sent to state refused to go into two weeks’ isolation.
He, however, urged the staff to obey the Safety Protocols or leave the State

It should be noted that last month, it was reported that the Chief Press Secretary to Kogi State Governor, Onogwu Mohammed cleared the air on a very similar accusation in a press statement on 15th April 2020
He noted that stories that quoted the governor as saying that the reported spread of coronavirus in Nigeria was political, full of lies and an avenue for political office holders and corrupt officials to embezzle and steal the nation’s resources are fake news.
“We wish to make it unequivocally clear that he did not at any time make any of such comments as claimed by the purveyors of the said fake news.”
“We urge the public and good people of Kogi State to disregard the said fake news churned out by agents of mischief whose stock in trade is to mislead the people and cause disaffection in the society.”

The information relating to the manipulation of COVID-19 cases is false and has no link to the Governor.

Is Nigeria overacting?

Nigeria recorded its first coronavirus case on February 27, 2020, and at the time of this report, it has recorded 5,612 confirmed cases after conducting 32,942 tests. It has recorded 176 deaths and 1,472 recoveries. According to the World Bank, as of 2018, Nigeria has a population of over 195 million people. As low as 0.016 percent of Nigeria’s population has been tested.
The Coronavirus began to spread in the United States in mid-January, 2020. The country has conducted 11,952,481 tests for its population of 330,770,251, as compiled by Worldometer. This amounts to 3.61 percent of the country’s population.
The US has recorded over 1.5 million cases and 89,42O deaths. And worldwide, confirmed cases are now 4,746,215, 1,827,700 recoveries, and 313,771 deaths according to world meter.

These statistics show that the coronavirus can do more damage than it has already done if care is not taken in Nigeria. The government can’t afford to relax

People’s check implores Nigerians not to be too quick to believe and send messages they receive from any social platform until they are sure of its accuracy.

If you have any information you want to verify, contact our Official WhatsApp account – 09077420450

Click here, to follow us on Twitter and here, to follow us on Facebook