-RESIDENTS COUNT LOSES

By Wale Abydeen and Adekunle Obadimu// The gesture by Dapo Abiodun, the Governor of Ogun State to ameliorate the suffering of the citizens during the stay at home order left a bitter tale in the mouth of some residents in the state. Many of them lamented how they were severally wounded, have their belongings stolen, damaged their cars during the stampede for the gift items. Residents complained over poor coordination of the distribution approach noting that if any of the people around them has coronavirus he or she can easily spread to everybody including the governor
The governor who was in Oju Ogbara area of Abeokuta on Friday to personally supervised the sharing of packages but was overwhelmed by crowd of residents who gathered at the venue to ‘struggle ‘ for the gifts items.

NGIJ Investigative Journalist who was at the event reports that contrary to social distance order, Governor Abiodun gone against the directives by the federal government, NCDC and other health agencies in ensuring a social distance to stop the spread of Covid-19 in Nigeria. The crowd at the event was more than what the governor’s aides and security operatives can curtail as the governor was surrounded by hundreds of people during the sharing process.

A news media reported that “The population of those that he (Dapo Abiodun) was with are mostly rural people, most might not have sanitizers, nose mask, even good water, one can’t say for sure that none of those in the crowd has the virus, and if one of them had it yesterday, it simply means the governor has put them or himself in serious danger”.
It was reported that many residents sustained various degrees of injuries while attempting to get the gift items.
“This is a manner less style of giving gifts to a multitude like this. I don’t expect the governor to descend this low by coming personally to distribute these items. You can imagine my side mirror has been broken” Olajide Okusaju, an APC member lamented as he reluctantly granted interview to curious journalists who accosted him at the event.
Our correspondent also gathered that the sharing of the relief materials was badly organized as the governor’s vehicle was damaged. “The crowd is too much. In fact, this is just like a campaign ground, poorly organized with a blatant disregard to the social distance order. If some states can arrest people for organizing a birthday party in their compound, what the governor of Ogun State did today should be condemned too” Kayode Adeyemo, a journalist said