By Chika Otuchikere and Mirian Gom, Abuja

The Nigerian Army was yesterday thrown into mourning as news filtered through that  the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 6^th Division, Port Harcourt, Rivers state, Maj.

Gen. Johnson Olu Irefin has died from COVID-19 complications.

Irefin was deployed to the command the division in July 2020 replacing Maj.-Gen. Felix Agugo. His death has thrown the army in confusion as there has not been a contact tracing of officers and men who had dealings with him in the past days,

A senior army officer, who confirmed the death, described it as shocking.

“One of our fine officers is dead. He is the GOC 6th Division. He died in Abuja after developing complications caused by the coronavirus pandemic”, he said.

Meanwhile, the ongoing Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Annual Conference 2020, has been abruptly terminated as one of the participating officers was on Tuesday confirmed to have tested positive for COVID-19.

Acting Director,  Army Public Relations, Brigadier General, Sagir Musa made this known in a statement yesterday in Abuja.

According to Sagir, the cancelation of the remaining activities to mark the annual conference were due to the resurgence of COVID – 19 pandemic in the Federal Capital Territory, which, according to him, appeared to be a second wave of infection cycle.

“The Nigerian Army wishes to inform members of the public that due to resurgence of COVID 19 Pandemic in the Federal Capital Territory Abuja in what appears to be a second wave of infection cycle and the unfortunate incident on Tuesday 8 December 2020, where an officer participating in the ongoing Chief of Army Staff’s Annual Conference 2020 here in Abuja tested positive to COVID 19, the remaining activities of the conference have therefore been immediately cancelled.

“All the participants have been mandated to immediately proceed on self-isolation in line with the Federal Government’s protocol for COVID 19 and to prevent any further spread of the disease,” he said.

In a related development, the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.Gen. Tukur Buratai has scaled down activities for the wedding Fatiha of his son Hamisu, over the resurgence of COVID-19.

A statement by the army spokesman, Brig. Gen. Sagir Musa said the action was connected to the incident where one officer attending the COAS conference tested positive for the COVID-19.

According to Musa, all officers invited to the wedding who participated in the conference have been withdrawn from the list of invited guests.

The statement read in part:

“Due to resurgence of COVID -19 Pandemic in the Federal Capital Territory Abuja in what appears to be a second wave of infection cycle and the unfortunate incident on Tuesday 8 December 2020, where  an officer participating in the ongoing Chief of Army Staff’s Annual Conference 2020 here in Abuja tested positive  to COVID 19, which resulted in the cancellation of the remaining activities of the conference and all the participants mandated to immediately proceed on self isolation in line with the Federal Government’s protocol for COVID 19 and to prevent any further spread of the disease. 

“Consequently, the Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen TY Buratai wishes to inform all dignitaries and other invited guests that activities earlier scheduled for the wedding of his son Mr Hamisu Tukur Buratai will proceed as arranged albeit pruned down without the participation of all those who were at the conference. 

“The Chief of Army Staff, on behalf of his family, feels honoured to sincerely appreciate, thank and welcome all dignitaries and invited guests to his son’s Wedding Fatiha slated for Friday 11 December 2020. However, due to the resurgence of the Pandemic in the FCT, General Buratai will be unable to personally attend to, receive or meet you at the event. All inconveniences hereby regretted please”

In yet another development, the Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai has said that the State was experiencing a rising rate of Covid-19 infections, warning that government may impose another lockdown among other options it is considering to manage the situation.

El-Rufai called on citizens to adopt and practice the prevention protocols such as wearing facemasks and avoiding crowded places and large gatherings, to enable the state to contain the situation without imposing another lockdown.

The governor’s Special Adviser on Media and Communication, Mr. Muyiwa Adekeye issued a statement on Thursday, saying that el-Rufai conveyed his concern at the 2021 budget signing ceremony held at the Government House.

Speaking at the event, the governor expressed concern that infection rates were now hovering between 20% and 35%.

The statement quoted the governor as saying that ‘’by August and September, we were down to 1%, 2%, 3% infection rates from samples we tested. Now, we are hovering between 20% and 35%.’

“The rate of infections is surging and we have now decided that every employee of Kaduna State Government must be tested and no person will be allowed to enter any government office, any hospital, any school, any public facility without a mask and maintaining social distancing,’’ he warned.

As part of the measures for managing the situation, the governor said the state will ‘’bring back mobile courts to enforce the wearing of masks because if we don’t do that, these infections will continue to rise and will affect the lives and livelihoods of our people.’’

el-Rufai explained that compliance with Covid-19 prevention protocols represents the most effective and least costly way to contain the disease.

According to the governor, the state prefers to avoid a lockdown but may have no option if the adherence to prevention controls does not improve.

“If people refuse to wear masks and observe social distancing, we will consider locking down the state once again. Nobody wants that. We know the impact of that on lives and livelihoods, but we must save lives first,’’ he said.

Health Workers Doubt COVID-19 Existence­-NCDC

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control ((NCDC) has revealed that many health workers, who should champion the campaign against the COVID-19 pandemic were still in doubt about its existence.

 “Health workers should create awareness on COVID-19, but many of them still doubt its existence. We must work hard to remove such doubt,” Dr Oladipo Ogunbode, Assistant Director, Department of Prevention Programmes and Knowledge Management of the NCDC, said in Abuja.

Ogunbode spoke at a conference to mark this year’s health week. The theme of the conference was “Disease outbreak in Nigeria, are we ready?”.

The director said that it was “amazing and inexplicable” for medics to doubt the fact that the pandemic was a reality, and particularly regretted that many express such doubt openly.

“To handle the doubt, there is the need to increase the level of awareness on the virus.

“As health workers, there is no one of us that does not know at least one person that has not been confirmed COVID-19 positive,” the official pointed out.

He said that the perception about COVID-19 was still low and people were not adhering to the basic protocol of wearing facemasks.

The official called for increase in communication and the need to engage the media on the pandemic, urging front line health workers to be COVID-19 ambassadors by speaking the message and letting people know that the disease was around.

Head, Response Division, Department of Health Emergency, Preparedness and Response, Dr Olaolu Aderinola, also urged various partners involved in the COVID-19 fight to speak up.

“We have so many partners working with us to bring out this message on COVID-19. As NCDC, we are working very hard and things are going smoothly but our partners are the ones that will speak for us,” Aderinola said.