COVID-19: Just Like Lagos, Ogun Suspends Reopening of Churches, Mosques

Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State has suspended the planned reopening of religious centres in the state due to the increase of the deadly coronavirus (COVID-19).

Recall that Governor Abiodun had earlier fixed June 19 for the planned reopening of the worship centres in the state and had set up a tripartite committee to work out the modalities for the reopening.

But on Friday, the governor said, “Consequently, we are confronted with two choices – yield to the demand of those who want the restrictions to be further relaxed or even completely removed, even if this is at variance with the dictates of incontrovertible data analysis and scientific opinion; or tow the path that preserves public health and safety, even if not so popular.

“As a responsible administration, we choose life and the wellbeing of our citizens and are therefore constrained to take the painful but necessary decision to maintain the current regime of eased lockdown in the meantime.

“We are consequently suspending our initially slated reopening of places of worship.”

Ogun State neighbours, Lagos State, had also suspended its planned opening of religious centres.

Naija News reports that the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on Thursday evening, June 18, recorded 745 new cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) in the West African country.

According to the NCDC, of the seven hundred and forty-five new coronavirus cases recorded on Thursday evening, 280 were recorded in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial city, Oyo-103 Ebonyi-72 FCT-60 Imo-46 Edo-34 Delta-33 Rivers-25 Kaduna-23 Ondo-16 Katsina-12 Kano-10 Bauchi-8 Borno-7 Kwara-5 Gombe-4 Sokoto-2 Enugu-2 Yobe-1 Osun-1 Nasarawa-1, northern Nigeria.

The NCDC tweeted: “745 new cases of #COVID19Nigeria; Lagos-280 Oyo-103 Ebonyi-72 FCT-60 Imo-46 Edo-34 Delta-33 Rivers-25 Kaduna-23 Ondo-16 Katsina-12 Kano-10 Bauchi-8 Borno-7 Kwara-5 Gombe-4 Sokoto-2 Enugu-2 Yobe-1 Osun-1 Nasarawa-1 18,480 confirmed 6,307 discharged 475 deaths,” the tweet added.

The development means the number of cases of coronavirus in Nigeria has risen to eighteen thousand and four hundred and eighty (18,480) with six thousand, three hundred and seven (6,307) people discharged and four hundred and seventy-five (475) deaths recorded.