The Governor of Oyo State has stated that he never doubted the existence of the Coronavirus despite contrary reports making the rounds on social media.
The Governor who was diagnosed with the deadly virus stated this in a radio interview with Fresh FM on Tuesday in Ibadan.
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Before he tested positive for coronavirus, Governor Makinde attended a rally of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ibadan where he made a joke about the disease.
During the rally, the governor said the coronavirus did not exist in the PDP.
“They said we should not do this rally because of coronavirus. It was their leader that said coronavirus is in their party, yes or no? Have you used your hand sanitiser? There is no coronavirus in our own party.”
Seyi Makinde said at the time.
During the interview on Tuesday however, the Governor said he never doubted the existence of the Coronavirus.
“Okay, first, you know we had a rally, I believe two weeks ago and then I have seen the video that has been circulating on social media which is being misinterpreted to mean that, I doubted at any time, the existence of COVID-19. The reality is no, I actually never did,” he said.
“I had used COVID-19 in the same metaphorical way that their APC leader did when they were fighting about their chairmanship and he said, well, the virus has gotten into the party.
“So, I made a joke out of it and the video has been circulating that I said there is no coronavirus, that it only exists in the APC. Well, it was a metaphor.
“But to the good people of Oyo State, I want to say again: COVID-19 is real. So, they must follow all the measures government has put in place to prevent, contain and control this virus.”
Makinde assured the people of the state that his government will continue to assess the situation and take necessary measures to curb the spread of the disease.
He also assured the people that Oyo State will not be locked down like Ogun and Lagos states.
Makinde said he believed in taking an alternative course of action instead of a total lockdown of the State.
“Oyo is not going to be locked down because every other state is doing that. Yes, Lagos can be on lockdown, Ogun can be on lockdown, Oyo state, yes, people have been saying have a total lockdown and then I have been asking them questions,” he said.
“What will be the benefits here? Are there alternative courses of action for us to take? If you ask people not to come out, you lock down the market places, there are people who what they sell today – the profit from today’s activities is what they will eat tomorrow.
“There are many people like that within our environment. So, are there alternatives available to us? Can we do selective lockdowns? That’s why I imposed the curfew, to say look irin ti o ba ye ka rin.”
Speaking about his Coronavirus status, the Governor said he is yet to show symptoms of the disease since testing positive.
He added that he was still in charge of Oyo State.