Bayelsa State governor, Senator Douye Diri, has blamed the loss of a senior military officer, (name withheld) in the state to the Coronavirus pandemic to non-compliance with the safety measures.
The governor disclosed this at the state monthly praise night at the Glory Land Chapel on Thursday.
Governor Diri said the deceased whose primary line of duty was in Bayelsa fell ill outside the state.
He added it is unfortunate that he died in the state after being diagnosed with COVID-19.
According to him, “I was briefed about the passing away of a Major, who fell ill due to Covid-19 and died.
“He travelled out of the state and fell ill. He came into Bayelsa and died here and they briefed me to say when he was traveling like that, they used to see him without complying with any of the safety measures.
“I was briefed that the Major disobeyed the health officials while he was going and coming in, and, infact in one of the occasions, he told them, ‘all of you are just deceiving yourselves, there is no Covid-19,’ and one of my officials told me that arising from that fragrant disobedience of the Executive Order that I signed here, he had to call his superior to report the matter.”
“On one of the occasions, one of the officials called him to order, but unfortunately, we lost him to the same Covid-19 that he didn’t acknowledge its existence.
“My brothers and sisters, there is COVID-19; it is happening to us here in Bayelsa. We have seen it, and so this is a time for us to educate our brothers, our sisters, our neighbours. So, ignorant people are saying we have COVID-19 because we want funds from the Federal Government.
“I’ve said it over and over, the Federal Government has not given a dime to Bayelsa State and all those who are committed to Covid-19 in Bayelsa, we have acknowledged them publicly and we have the Covid-19 support account and so it is transparent and all approvals come through my office.
“So, what are we saying? We are happy people because if you look at the impact of COVID-19 across the states, you can see we are at the bottom part. And so we have no other thing to call upon. Some trust in their chariots, others trust in their horses, but for us, we trust in God. We trust in him and he has a canopy over us in Bayelsa State.
“As the Governor of Bayelsa State, we are covered with the blood of Jesus. As the Governor of Bayelsa State, according to Psalm 35, there will be prosperity in Bayelsa State. Whatever we pay, our hands on in Bayelsa will be prosperous.
“Brethren, I finally want to once again implore us as Bayelsans, try and speak good about your state, there’s power in the tongue, attract goodness to yourselves, attract good things to your state. Do not gather to bring down your state, do not gather to bring evil to your state, speak good about your state, speak good about yourselves and we are sure by the time we implement good things that you call as if they’re already in existence and you call them to existence and that is the beginning of prosperity.”