The Gombe State Governor, Alhaji Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, has enlisted the services of vigilantes and hunters to enforce measures put in place to curb the spread of the Coronavirus, in which the state recorded five index cases at a go.

The two groups will join other security agencies, traditional and religious leaders, to ensure strict enforcement of the measures. Borders with other states will remain closed, while punitive measures will be taken against any large crowd found gathering in the state.

Governor Yahaya stated this during an emergency meeting with traditional rulers in the state, where he declared that in order to prevent further spread of the virus, the government had to collaborate with traditional institutions and map out the best strategies to ensure strict enforcement of the directives already in place.

“If care and measures are not taken enough to protect the people, community spread will set-in and that will be the worst. You know the nature of how our people relate. You know the nature of our cultural affiliation and transactions and to that extent, it involves all of us,” Governor Yahaya said.

He said security agencies were on high alert to ensure full compliance, because the previous orders given were seriously violated.

“Unfortunately the level of compliance was indeed very low. Not only that it was low at the boundaries, it was low, within the state, a lot of organizations, especially the Tasngayas, Juma’at Prayers, Mosques decided to disobey, despite all the pleas and despite all instructions. Now that the ugly head of the Coronavirus is sent on us and we have registered some people positive, we need to rethink and do much better what we did earlier on, in terms of taking proactive measures or punitive measures against those who decide to misbehave or operate against instructions”.

Curtailing further spread

In the meantime, the Chairman of the Gombe State Covid-19 Taskforce, Professor Idris Mohammed, said the taskforce was taking adequate measures to curtail further spread from becoming community spread.

He said three of the confirmed cases were being treated at the isolation ward of the Federal Teaching Hospital, Gombe, while one of the victims, an indigene of Biu, Borno State had been escorted to the border with Borno State. The last one was home in Arawa, one of the suburban areas within Gombe Metropolis, where authorities of the Public Health Emergency Operating Centre had been sent to trace him.

Professor Mohammed said efforts were being made to trace those who came into contact with the confirmed patients.

He said contacts would be traced and sent on isolation, but appealed for redoubled efforts to ensure that everyone keeps vigilance, because it was a wakeup call to record five index cases at once.

With the Ramadan expected to commence in a few days time, the Governor advised Muslims in the state to be weary of large gatherings, to prevent further spread of the virus in the state.

By Emmanuel Ukoh