Yahaya Bello, governor of Kogi state, says Nigerians are being made to accept the reality of COVID-19 “by force”.
Speaking at a prayer session for the late Nasir Ajana, Kogi chief judge, on Tuesday, Bello said COVID-19 was created to “shorten the lifestyle of the people”.
Ajana died at a COVID-19 treatment centre in Gwagwalada in the federal capital territory (FCT) on Sunday.
But the governor said the late chief judge did not die of the dreaded disease.
While asking people not to accept what he described as “cut and paste COVID-19″, Bello said nothing kills faster than fear.
“Whether medical experts and scientists believe it or not, COVID-19 is out to shorten the lifestyle of the people, it is a disease propagated by force for Nigerians to accept,” the governor said.
“COVID-9 is only out to create fear, panic – orchestrated to reduce and shorten the lifespan of the people.”
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has so far announced three cases of COVID-19 in Kogi, but the state government has insisted that the state is free of the disease.
It has repeatedly accused the NCDC of falsifying COVID-19 cases in Kogi.
But the state government said on Monday it had partnered the United States Centre for Diseases Control (CDC) to set up a reference molecular laboratory for COVID-19 tests.
As of Monday, Nigeria recorded 25,133 cases of the disease. While 9,402 patients have recovered, 573 people have died.