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Governor Nyesom Wike has suspended the chairman of Abua/Odual Council of Rivers State, Opelia Daniel, from office for lack of commitment in the fight against coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
The governor announced the one-month suspension at the Government House, Port Harcourt, while inaugurating a 33-man committee to purchase foodstuff from farmers and fishermen for distribution to Rivers people.
He also said that his government would not wait for the Federal Government before providing palliatives for the people, while checking the spread of COVID-19.
“We are not waiting for the Federal Government to assist us. We are making the right sacrifices to promote the welfare of our people.”
He directed the committee to work for Rivers people by deploying the allocated funds for the good of the people.
Wike said his administration’s goal was to ensure that no agricultural produce like yam, garri, plantain, palm oil and fish left the state during the lockdown.
In the same vein, as the state records the second COVID-15 case, the government has placed 35 persons who returned to the state from impacted countries under strict surveillance.
The Commissioner for Health, Professor Princewill Chike, said contact-tracing of all those who came in contact with a 63-year-retiree who tested positive for COVID-19 in Port Harcourt yesterday had commenced and samples collected from high risk contacts for Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) analysis.
Chike explained that the sexagenarian had spent about a month in the United Kingdom (UK) and returned to Nigeria through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, on March 20, 2020.
According to him, the man returned to his home in Port Harcourt the next day via Aero Contractors flight, and has been on self-isolation under the state surveillance system in his family home.
