COVID-19: Osun enforcement team arrests violators of lockdown

Toba Adedeji, Osogbo

The enforcement team of the Osun COVID-19 Task Force on Thursday arrested some of the violators of the ongoing lockdown order of the state government in Ijesaland.

This was coming as the 7-day lockdown in Ijesaland entered day three.

The violators and other non-adherents to the NCDC’s protocols were apprehended for flouting government’s directives to forestall community transmission of the dreaded Coronavirus.

The state government had last weekend announced the total lockdown in four local government areas of Ijesaland as part of its swift response to combat the pandemic.

The decision to lockdown some parts of the state, according to the government, was arrived at due to increase in the number of confirmed cases of the pandemic in the state.

The state’s medical team managing the pandemic had earlier in its reports revealed that many of the people that had contracted the virus were residents of Ijesaland; hence the need for government to step up its preventive measures.

The Special Adviser to the Governor on Security, Mrs Abiodun Ige, who led the enforcement team, said the decision to arrest some of the violators was to ensure total compliance to government’s order.

She noted that those that were temporarily arrested would serve as a deterrent to others who might be nursing such an act of insolence toward the lockdown.

While counselling the lockdown defaulters at Ereja square, Ige said the government embarked on the lockdown as the best option to forestall the further spread of the virus in the state and the areas in particular.

Some of the violators who were largely residents of Ilesa West and Ilesa East were apprehended by the law enforcement agents stationed at different locations in the four Councils.

The violators were counselled on the necessary precautionary measures to prevent the spread of the virus and were later released.

Speaking on the level of compliance so far, Ige said it is worthy of note that people have begun to see the need for them to stay safe and stay alive.

She appealed to the residents of the affected areas to bear with the development as the government cannot afford to expose its citizens to avoidable dangers.