The devastating wave of the dangerous coronavirus pandemic has hit the Nigerian State House, also called the Presidential Villa, as many aides to President Muhammadu Buhari and senior government officials are said to have contracted the virus.
But the Nigerian government is keeping quiet about it, even when it advises newspaper correspondents not to report on the increase in infections in the village.
PREMIUM TIMES investigations revealed that, in addition to the permanent secretary of the House of Representatives, Tijani Umar; the aide-de-camp to the president (ADC), Yusuf Dodo; His chief of security (CSO), Aliyu Musa, and his senior special assistant in media and advertising, Garba Shehu, whose results were confirmed positive during the week, the minister of information and culture, Lai Mohammed, is also infected with the virus.
Some of the infected officials, including Garba, the sources revealed, were removed from the cabinet meeting on Wednesday when their polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test result came back positive.
Mr Shehu, who confirmed that he was “affected by the mild variant of COVID-19”, in a text message shared with our reporter on Saturday, said that he has no “confirmation” of other cases that were mentioned to him.
He added that he was already in shape, claiming that he had just completed his physical exercises when our reporter called, but that scientific evidence would be required to claim that he no longer had the virus.
Your message is read in part; “I have no confirmation of the cases you mentioned, but yes, I have been affected by the mild variant of COVID-19. I felt good from the beginning, maybe because one had taken all three hits, and right now, I feel 100 percent. I just finished my one hour running exercise.
“But the strange thing about this ailment is that it is the scientists, not you, who will say that it is okay. Right now, I’m taking my prescriptions and isolating myself, and would come back for a test to determine if the virus is still here or has left me. Thank you for your goodwill. “
Efforts to elicit reaction from Garba’s colleague and special advisor on media and publicity to the president, Femi Adesina, on the matter were unsuccessful as his phone always indicated “busy” when called many times, and he also did not respond to a short message sent to him, many hours later.
For his part, the special assistant to the president in digital and new media, Tolu Ogunlesi, said he could not comment on the matter, since he referred to our reporter who he described as government spokesmen.
Efforts to contact the information minister, Mr. Mohammed, were also unsuccessful, as his phone line was unavailable for more than 24 hours, while his assistant, According to Adeyemi, did not take his calls or respond to a brief message that was sent to you.
However, reliable sources confirmed that Mr. Mohammed and other affected officials are currently in isolation and are receiving medical attention.
Reason for the early closure of Ms. Buhari’s position
This newspaper understands that due to the large number of officials affected by the pandemic, governance may have been affected in the center.
Sources, who do not want to be cited for fear of sanctions, said the decision to close the office of the president’s wife, Aisha Buhari, earlier in the week, was not unrelated to the large number of state officials. House that have already been confirmed positive for the virus.
Ms Buhari’s special media adviser Aliyu Abdullahi said that although the situation was not part of the reason given for the early closure in the released statement, it could not “be disconnected from it” either. However, he refused to confirm or reject, saying that the president’s wife may have made the decision to prevent the spread of the virus.
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When asked if the virus scare was part of the reasons for the early closure of the office of the president’s wife, Abdullahi, after much hesitation, he said; “Well, I think that is part of the reasons, although it was not indicated in the statement announcing the closure. But that would be part of the reasons. But this is also a vacation time and therefore the first lady might have felt that the office should close early to avoid a widespread phenomenon. “
However, Abdullahi said his statement never meant that he confirmed that someone had contracted the virus, saying he did not have that information. “But you know it could be just a warning,” he said.
Increase in COVID-19 Cases in Nigeria
Nigeria’s government threatened on Thursday that it might be forced to impose further restriction measures to curb the spread of the virus, as the nation recorded 4,035 new cases on Wednesday.
Wednesday’s figure remains the highest daily number of recorded cases in Nigeria since the outbreak in the country in February 2020.
While appearing as a guest on “Kaakaki,” a morning show on Africa’s Independent Television (AIT) on Thursday, the director general of the Nigerian Center for Disease Control (NCDC), Ifedayo Adetifa, said despite the efforts of the government to sensitize Nigerians to the virus, many still doubt its existence.
He said that disbelief is a phenomenon that is making the war against the spread of the pandemic a difficult fight for the government.
He said; “It is quite a difficult phenomenon, because for some people, there is no evidence that you can contribute to convince them. We report infection logs daily as part of our efforts to be transparent.
“Even the cases we report are simply underestimated because we simply cannot assess as many people as can be done in a well-resourced location. It is everywhere, we all know it, there are many people who tested positive and isolated themselves at home and the evidence we have is our surveillance system that now shows an exponential increase in the number of cases ”.
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He said that the disease that has claimed some 3,000 lives in Nigeria cannot be said to be a ghost, and said that only affected families can count the consequences of the vacuum created by the deceased.
Speaking about the threat of curfew, Mr. Adetifa said; “I am sad to report that, in addition to the wave of confirmed cases, it appears that we are now seeing an increase in the number of patients who have been admitted to isolation centers because people are not complying with recommended security measures. and they don’t get vaccinated.
“With that, we are allowing transmission to continue unabated, which means that there is a risk that our health system will be overwhelmed, and if it continues, then the government may be forced to implement more stringent measures including assembly restrictions. and even curfews. “
The NCDC Boss has also consistently advised Nigerians not to lose their guard, while urging everyone to take vaccines as the only antidote available globally right now.
At a press conference on Friday, Adetifa said that a total of 45 Omicron variants of the virus have been recorded in Nigeria, making Nigeria the third country with a high number of Omicron cases in Africa.