The Edo State Government has called on Edo people to hold the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate in the forthcoming governorship election, Osagie Ize-Iyamu, responsible for any dramatic spike in new coronavirus cases in the state.
In a statement, Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Communication Strategy, Crusoe Osagie, said the warning became imperative as the APC and its candidate did not follow the necessary coronavirus (COVID-19) health and safety protocols in organising its campaign flag-off at the University of Benin (UNIBEN) Sports Complex in Benin City, on Saturday.
According to him, “We are aware that the campaign flag-off was held without adherence to the protocols emplaced by the Federal Government through the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Edo State Government to mitigate the spread of coronavirus.
“There may have been pretenses to have organised a semblance of a COVID-19 health and safety protocol, but we know that to be a charade because tests were not conducted in the case of people turning up with high temperature and samples were not collected for suspected cases.”
Osagie added that it was most regrettable that the APC would endanger the lives and safety of the people, urging the public to be on the alert should there be an escalation of cases of the virus in the state.
“The Edo State Government had over the last few months ensured that the people are protected from the vagaries of the pandemic, which had informed the data-driven approach to the pandemic. But it is only regrettable and condemnable that the APC is making a mockery of the hard work invested in protecting the people from the pandemic by exposing them to the virus without caring about how these would lead to rise in cases of the virus in the state.”
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