COVID-19: Rivers declares total lockdown on Bonny LGA, Onne community

Rivers State Government on Saturday night announced a total lockdown, until further notice on Bonny local government area and Onne community in Eleme local government area.

The action followed an earlier warning by the State Governor, Nyesom Wike, who had warned the Bonny monarch and people that following the increasing cases of infections in the island government might be forced to impose total lockdown on the place to save it from becoming the epicentre of the pandemic in the state.

Bonny local government and Onne community are two very important economic centres for the country being landlords to the multi-billion dollars Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas NLNG and the Onne seaport and Oil and Gas Free Zone.

Wike announced the lockdown in a state-wide broadcast stated that the State Security Council took the decision in order to arrest the further spread of the pandemic in the two areas and consequently across the state.

As a result, the governor stated that all residents of Bonny Local Government and Onne community, except those on essential services and duly exempted must stay at home beginning on Sunday, June 21, 2020.

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He stated: “Pursuant to the fundamental objective of stopping the spread of coronavirus, we have reviewed the situation in Bonny Island and Onne Communities and come to the conclusion that a total lockdown is necessary at this time to shut down the continuing spread of the virus in these communities”.

“By this measure, all shops, offices and business places must remain closed. All gatherings, including religious, burial and wedding activities are prohibited. All entry and exit into the two communities, except those on essential services and duly permitted, are also banned.

“Security agencies have been directed to enforce the lockdown by arresting and prosecuting anyone who dares to disobey these directives, ” Wike added.

The Governor noted that with a total of 866 positive cases out of 2572 tested samples, the state was gradually becoming the next epicentre of the virus in the South-south region of the country adding that within this period, the state also recorded 30 deaths, including prominent persons while 356 persons recovered and were discharged from treatment centres.

According to the Governor, only today the state recorded 127 new cases leaving the Isolation and Treatment Centres overwhelmed.

As the number of new cases and deaths continue to increase, the Governor said there was no more denying that coronavirus is both dangerous and deadly.

“We cannot also deny that the transmission of the virus in our state is currently on a steep upward trend. This being so, we must all brace up to the reality of having new infections and a couple of deaths in the coming weeks and months.

“When we recognised that effective early response is key to preventing the virus from progressing deep, we introduced drastic measures to protect our citizens.

“Unfortunately, some people deliberately twisted our intentions, maligned our timely measures and exploited the attendant temporary hardship on our people to further their selfish political drives.

“Today, I am sure with the daily worrisome number of new infections and the fear of possible calamitous community transmission, everyone is now seeing the needless politicization of the fight against coronavirus.

“Nevertheless, we are encouraged by the fact that the virus can effectively be stopped from spreading further, if only we all submit to the prescribed guidelines on social distancing as a matter of strict responsibility, he stated.

The Governor regretted the nonchalant attitude of those who blatantly violate the rights of people to good health and public safety by refusing to comply with established guidelines.

He, therefore, appealed to all residents and visitors to treat the spread of coronavirus with all seriousness by staying at home as much as possible, avoiding contacts with others when outside and avoiding gathering in groups.

He also counselled on regularly washing hands and regularly wearing face masks in public places, including transport mediums.

Wike assured that government would continue to collaborate with well-meaning partners to stop the continuing spread of coronavirus stating that was not a time to play politics and called on residents to accept individual responsibility to reduce the risk of transmission and protect our people.

He warned residents of the state to be prepared for a statewide lockdown if the number of new infections continues to increase unabated.

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