Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State, on Thursday morning, finally took the coronavirus (COVID-19) test in order to ascertain his status.
This was in swift response to Daily Trust’s lead story of Thursday, titled: “COVID-19: Status of 20 Nigerian governors unknown“.
Also, taken for COVID-19 test were samples of his Deputy, Engineer Benson Abounu and the Commissioner for Finance and Economic Development, David Olofu.
The governor, while commenting on his decision to willingly go for the test, said, “it is the right thing to do by everyone, not only when they notice symptoms of the disease.”
He, therefore, encouraged other Benue people to present themselves for the COVID-19 test, as doing so would help to contain the spread of the disease.
Ortom added that there was nothing shameful about knowing one’s coronavirus status.
He further urged the people to cooperate with the COVID-19 Action Committee at the state and local governments levels, while observing the preventive measures against the pandemic.
It would be recalled that the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) and Ekiti State governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, had advised his colleagues to go for the test because of their exposure.
Also, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) had reportedly written to all the governors to self-isolate after undergoing test for COVID-19 as a precautionary measure.
However, 18 out of the 36 states governors in Nigeria were yet to take the test or make their status known, findings by the Daily Trust have shown as at Thursday afternoon.
On Thursday morning, Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje came out to declare his COVID-19 status.
In a statement, the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Abba Anwar disclosed that Ganduje and his wife tested negative for the coronavirus disease.
With Ortom’s sample taken and Ganduje’s disclosure of his status Thursday morning, 18 governors have now been tested out of 36.
The governors that are yet to make their status known are those of Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Delta, Enugu, Zamfara, Jigawa, Adamawa, Taraba, Gombe and Lagos state.
The rest are those of Plateau, Sokoto, Yobe, Kwara, Ebonyi, Kogi, Imo and Abia.
Meanwhile, three governors have tested positive for the novel coronavirus and made their status known using different platforms.
Daily Trust tally had revealed that the results of 14 governors, who subjected themselves for the novel coronavirus test, came out negative. They are the governors of Kebbi, Katsina, Osun, Ekiti, Edo, Bayelsa, Ogun, Ondo, Nasarawa, Niger, Cross River, Anambra, Kano and Borno.
