By AHMAD TAHIR AJOBE, Lokoja

Hoodlums, early hours of Wednesday, disrupted activities at the Federal Medical Centre, Lokoja, Kogi State over COVID-19 claims in the state.

The attackers, witnessed said, stormed the facility at about 8:am.

The invasion came as health workers and medical doctors were planning to address the Press on the state of affairs of the state as it concerned COVID-19.

The hoodlums headed to the administrative block where they forced their way into the Chief Medical Director’s office and “ransacked every where”, according to a staff who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“They proceeded to the account and records office where they disrupt activities and made away with cash, files and laptops,” he explained further.

He noted that the attackers were yelling that the hospital was giving the state a bad name by alleging that there was COVID-19 in the state against the state government’s contrary position.

“They might be angry because it was the hospital that claimed it treated some COVID-19 patients before transferring them to the Nigeria Centre for Diseases Control (NCDC) in Abuja,” the source noted.

‘No COVID-19 in Kogi’

The Kogi State Government has insisted that there is no case of COVID-19 in the state despite NCDC announcing an index case last month. A Chief Judge in the State, Justice Nasiru Ajanah, died on Sunday but Kogi State Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, insisted that he died of natural causes.

The clarification came on the heels of speculations that the late legal luminary showed symptoms akin to that of COVID-19. The speculations heightened when the late chief judge was buried in Abuja according to the novel coronavirus pandemic protocols.

However, speaking on Tuesday in Lokoja during the 3-day fidau prayer for the repose of the late Justice Ajanah, Bello said the chief judge had been in and out of the hospital due to an ailment long before COVID-19 spread to Nigeria.

The governor insisted that the pandemic had become a political tool used to create fear and panic across the country, adding that people died from the fear than the disease itself. He called on the people of the State to discountenance the speculation that the late chief judge died of COVID-19, insisting that the State is free of the pandemic.

It’s a sad, unfortunate development – NMA

The chairman of the state branch of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), Dr Kabir Zubairu, told newsmen that he learnt about the development in the morning. He said he was informed by staff and members that hoodlums disrupted activities at the facility, while describing the development as sad and unfortunate.

Daily Trust reports that there has been badblood between the State government and the authorities of the FMC over suspected COVID-19 patients and the reluctance of State authorities to activate response mechanisms that would allow testing for the pandemic.

The State government alleged that the FMC was a key conveyor in the supposed move by the NCDC and others to import the virus to the State following the lingering spat over the State’s status.

In a swift reaction to the attack on Wednesday, the State government attributed the development to a scuffle between relations of a patient who FMC failed to attend to.

“Many people in the Emergency Ward were left unattended to and a mother delivered at the gate of the hospital.

“That generated a lot of public tension in the State.

“Tension started building since yesterday [Tuesday] when patients and their relatives learnt of a plan by the medical staff to stage a protest today, seeking protection from COVID-19,” the Commissioner for Information and Communication, Mr Kingsley Fanwo, claimed.

However, the State Police command’s Public Relations Officer, DSP Williams Aya, confirmed the story.

He said the situation was under control as the state police commissioner, CP Ayuba Edi, had drafted his men to the center. (Daily Trust)

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