Against the backdrop of unconfirmed reports that an indigene of Imo who came back to the State and later died as a result of the dreaded disease, the state government has said there is nothing like Covid-19 in Imo adding that the case of the suspect, late Chief Aguwa Osuagwu’s particular case did not expose Imo to dreaded disease.
In a statement credited to the commissioner for information, Hon Daclan Emelumba, Trumpeta stumbled into, the Imo State Government denied the existence of the disease in the state adding that the information is the machinations of evil seekers.
According to Emelumba, “Of late detractors and merchants of death have made spirited attempts to heighten the anxiety of Imo people over COVID 19 pandemic by spreading misinformation and bare faced lies over the death of one Chief Aguwa Osuagwu. It is necessary therefore to state the facts as they are and reassure all Imo people that the death of the said Osuagwu should not be any cause for alarm in the state.
FIRST: It is true that the said Osuagwu came back from South Africa, not U.K or Europe as some have averred, where he went for medical check.
SECOND: When he visited Imo after his South Africa trip he did not have the virus.
THIRD: He was suffering from a complex heart condition resulting from a gun-shot on his chest around 2012. This eventually affected his longs.
FOURTH: it was in Abuja, long after he left Imo state, that he tested positive of the virus and died some days later.
Instructively his wife and children who were with him in Abuja and the driver who drove him around even while he was coughing have all been tested of the virus and they are all negative.
FIFTH: The staff and guests who have been quarantined in his Fancy hotel in Umuguma, Owerri, where he visited while in Owerri, have been released today, Saturday, April 4th, exactly 14 days of their isolation, because they have also not tested positive of the virus.
SIXTH: Even two of his brothers he visited in the village while he was in Owerri have tested negative to the virus.
From the above simple, verifiable narrative, it is clear that the probability that anyone who came in contact with him in Owerri could have been exposed to danger of COVID 19 was almost absent.
However, it is noteworthy that the government did not take anything for granted. Instead, in a prompt proactive fashion typical of the Uzodimma led government of Imo state, the government moved promptly and sealed his Fancy Hotel and equally sealed his village, because he visited these places while in town.
The truth of the matter is that no one in Imo state was exposed to COVID 19 danger because of Osuagwu’s peculiar severe health conditions which culminated in his ending up as a COVID 19 victim.
