Gunmen attack Kogi medical centre, disrupt COVID-19 briefing

Gunmen, on Wednesday, attacked the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) in Lokoja, Kogi state, and disrupted a COVID-19 press conference.

The hospital had scheduled a media briefing for the day to demand a COVID-19 screening centre in the state and to also speak about the challenges health workers are facing with regard to the disease.

The armed men were said to have arrived at the facility in three vehicles and shot sporadically to disperse the meeting.

Health workers were said to have been harassed by the gunmen who took away laptops and vital documents.

They were also said to have destroyed properties.

On Tuesday, Yahaya Bello, governor of the state, said Nigerians are being made to accept the reality of COVID-19 “by force”.

He said the virus was created to “shorten the lifestyle of the people”, while asking residents not to accept what he described as “cut and paste COVID-19″.

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.