‘How he died’ — relative of Nigeria’s first coronavirus casualty speaks

Abubakar, a relative of Suleiman Achimugu, Nigeria’s first coronavirus victim, says the deceased developed unusual symptoms before he died.

Achimugu, a former managing director of the Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC), died at 2am on Monday.

The 67-year-old deceased had underlying medical issues and had been undergoing chemotherapy for cancer and only returned to the country recently.

Speaking with Channels TV, Abubakar said the victim had a normal temperature after he arrived from to the country from UK.

He said Achimugu underwent 14 days self-isolation but developed “unusual symptoms” a week after he completed the isolation exercise.

The relative said the victim had called the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) after which he was moved to the coronavirus isolation centre in Abuja for testing.

“When he got back on March 10, his temperature was okay that he could still take extra precaution by self-isolation for 14 days. That was exactly what he did,” he said

“But after a week in isolation, he started unusual symptoms similar to those publicised on COVID-19. He called the NCDC personally to come to visit and run a test.

“He was experiencing symptoms that were alien to him. After the tests, a day after, the results were made available which came out positive, which was on Saturday. Then they arranged that he be evacuated to the COVID-19 centre in Abuja.”

Abubakar earlier mentioned in a statement that the deceased had been buried according to Islamic rites.

According to the NCDC, the virus has spread to the federal capital territory (FCT), and six states.