Rivers State Government has called for restraint, saying the owner of the demolished Prodest Hotel, Promise Gogorobari, should desist from blackmailing Governor Nyesom Wike.
Mr Gogorobari has been insisting that Rivers government plans to kill his hotel manager, Bariledum Azoroh, to justify its decision to demolish the hotel for violating lockdown order and claiming the manager had coronavirus.
However, in a statement on Wednesday by the Commissioner for Information and Communications, Paulinus Nsirim, the government dismissed the allegations.
“It is important to state here that COVID-19 tests undergo World Health Organization, (WHO) and NCDC guidelines and are conducted under strict established medical protocols,” the statement read.
“Prior to the publication of the test results, the owner of Prodest Hotel Eleme, Mr. Gogorobari Needam published one of his misleading petitions in an attempt to preempt the outcome of the test and the question we want to ask is: ‘Why did the hotel owner try to preempt the outcome of the test? Was he trying to cover up something?’
“On Sunday, 24th May, 2020, the NCDC announced that Rivers State had 27 recorded positive cases including Job Azoroh, from tests carried out in the state. Following the official announcement of the result and confirmation of his Manager’s Covid-19 positive status, the Prodest Hotel owner has once again released another statement and this time is now calling for a state of emergency in Rivers State because his manager tested positive for Covid-19.”
The commissioner continued: “The claim, therefore, that the Prodest Hotel Manager, Mr. Bariledum Job Azoroh, was infected while in detention is not only laughable and preposterous, but sadly and dangerously exposes the amazing ignorance and naivety of Mr. Needam Promise Gogorobari and those sponsoring him about the deadly nature of the Covid-19 disease. How does one even carry such a deadly virus around and infect people with it?
“We also want to caution Mr. Needam Promise Gogorobari to be very mindful of his claims that his hotel Manager ‘has been framed up by an unorthodox hired medical officers recruited by Governor Wike with a report that he has tested positive to COVID-19 whilst in detention with the Rivers State Government’. This is a clear accusation and indictment of the reputation and authority of the NCDC.”
Mr Nsirim further warned against designating the isolation centre in Port Harcourt as an ‘illegal detention facility’.
