Abia State Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu, has tested positive for COVID-19, making him the fourth governor to test positive for the virus.
The state commissioner of information John Okiyi Kalu, confirmed the governor status in a statement on Monday after the governor droppedd samples twice for the test.
”Recall that on Saturday, 30th May, 2020, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu volunteered his sample for COVID-19 test and subsequently directed members of the state Executive Council (EXCO) and those of the inter ministerial committee on COVID-19 to submit themselves for the same test. On Tuesday, 2nd June, 2020. The result of Governor Ikpeazu’s test returned negative,” Kalu said.
”On Thursday, 4th June, 2020, the Governor submitted another sample at NCDC laboratory for confirmation and the result returned positive, he added.
”As a result, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu has gone into isolation, as required by relevant NCDC protocols, and he is being managed by a competent team of medical practitioners with a view to nursing him back to good health.”
All the three governors – Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna, Seyi Makinde of Oyo, and Bala Mohammed of Bauchi – who tested positive for virus recovered within a month.
In March, the governor said COVID-19 would not afflict Abia because the state is mentioned in the Bible.
“Abia is the only state that is mentioned in the Bible. We have a promise from God that none of these diseases will touch God’s people. And I hold on to God’s promise,” he said.
“We saw Ebola, it did not get to us. We saw monkey pox, it didn’t get to us. Even this one (coronavirus) will also pass us by.”
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on Sunday night announced 260 new positive cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) in the country bringing the total number of confirmed cases in Nigeria to 12,486.
According to the health agency, Abia State recorded the highest number of infections for the day with 67 cases while the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and Lagos State had 40 and 38 cases respectively.
A further breakdown of the new cases showed that Ogun State has 19 infections, Gombe (16), Edo (14), Imo (9), Kwara (8) and Katsina (8).
Others are Nasarawa (8), Borno (8), Kaduna (6), Bauchi (5), Ekiti (4), Niger (2), Ondo (2), Plateau (2), Kano (2), and Sokoto (2).
Of the number of positive cases in Nigeria, 3959 persons have fully recovered and discharged with 354 deaths, according to the latest figure from the NCDC.