EXTRA: Journalists give Yahaya Bello award for ‘demystifying COVID-19 politics’

Yahaya Bello, governor of Kogi state, has received an award for “demystifying politics of COVID-19”.

The award was given to him by the Kogi government house press corps in Lokoja, Kogi capital, on Wednesday.

Kogi is one the states where COVID tests are next-to-nil as the governor continues to insist that there is no coronavirus in the state.

At the height of the pandemic earlier in the year, Bello spoke against imposing a lockdown.

The federal capital territory (FCT), Lagos, and Ogun were among the states where a total lockdown was imposed as a part of measures to curb the spread of the infection.

In July, the governor said politicians were playing games with the lives of Nigerians through COVID-19.

“Let us stop this game, Nigerians are suffering, instead of the lockdown with its attendant negative effects on the people, why can’t we turn it to employment opportunities, providing clothes for face masks to be imported to those countries who have the disease,” Bello had said.

In a statement on Thursday, Mohammed Onogwu, Bello’s chief press secretary, quoted the governor as pleading with politicians to desist from playing with the lives of citizens.

The governor said the effect of the “highly marketed virus” on the economy is caused by “many individuals who have continued to make selfish gains while relegating collective interest and well being of the masses”.

According to him, many citizens are yet to recover from the lockdown imposed across the country.

Bello said the Kogi government came up with a strategy to solve its challenges after realising that a lockdown would adversely affect businesses in the state.

The governor said he will never play politics with the lives of residents of the state, adding that the good plans of President Muhammadu Buhari for the country are being thwarted by politicians with selfish agenda.

On his part, Chris Isiguzo, national president of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), said the governor took the stand because he “saw what the rest didn’t see”.