The President, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari [retd], on Tuesday, sent a team to Kano State as part of efforts to contain COVID-19 cases in the state.

The team met with state Governor, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, on the directive of Buhari.

The Chief Press Secretary to Governor, Abba Anwar, in a statement, said the team was led by Dr Sani Gwarzo and that they met with Ganduje at the Africa House, Government House, Kano.

Besides Gwarzo, others in the committee are a former Director-General of the NCDC, Prof Abdussalam Nasidi, and the Head of the Department of Health Services at the Federal Ministry of Health, Dr Bimpe Adebiyi.

According to the statement by Anwar, Gwarzo said the team members were in Kano to find out what the state needed to contain COVID-19.

He added,

“President Buhari directed us to do everything possible to support, reinforce and mobilise support even beyond the nation.

“Your Excellency in the special committee sent to Kano to work with the state government are experts in public health and other areas.

“In the special committee there are people like Prof Abdussalam Nasidi, the pioneer Director General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Contre, who is a professor of infectious diseases.

“There is also Dr Bimpe Adebiyi, who heads the Department of Health Services at the Federal Ministry of Health.”

In his remarks, Ganduje thanked Buhari for coming to the aid of the state. He restated his earlier call for more testing centres in the state, saying, “a testing centre is the nucleus of the fight against COVID-19.”

Nasidi, on his part, said the team was in Kano to reinforce already existing structures in the state.

In a related development, the unusual deaths, especially among the elite and prominent people in Kano, continued on Tuesday.

Those who died included, Alhaji Uba Adamu, the father of the Vice-Chancellor of the National Open University, Prof Abdullah Adamu. He died in the early hours of Tuesday.

Also, a spiritual leader of the Murtala Mohammed Central Mosque in Kano, Sheik Tijjani Yola, has also died.

A family source in Kano on Tuesday said that the renowned cleric died in the early hours of the day.

The source said,

“He passed away at his residence in the Gwale area in Kano in the early hours of today and was laid to rest around 9am.”

According to the source, the death of Sheik Yola has left a big vacuum as he was managing one of the largest mosques in the city.

A former Speaker of the Jigawa state House of Assembly, Adamu Sarawa, died on Monday of undisclosed ailment.

Also, a former chairperson of the Federation of Muslim Women Association of Nigeria, Kano State chapter, Hajiya Halima Shittu, also lost her life.

Shittu was said to have died at her residence at the NNDC Quarters on Tuesday morning and had since been buried in accordance with Islamic rites.

A lecturer at the Department of Architecture, Kano University of Science and Technology (KUST), Wudil, Dr Ghali Umar, died three days ago.

The Public Relations Officer of the university, Mallam Abdullahi Abdullahi confirmed the death of lecturer in Kano on Tuesday.

He said the deceased had since been buried in accordance with the Islamic rites.

Residents have continued to entertain fears as the unusual deaths continue amidst the coronavirus pandemic in the state.

As of Tuesday, Kano has recorded 77 cases of COVID-19.

The NCDC testing centre at the Aminu Kano Testing Hospital which was closed down about a week ago, has resumed operation.

A top government official, who did not want his name mentioned, confirmed the development  in Kano on Tuesday.

“The centre resumes operation today (Tuesday) but don’t quote me because we have been directed to stop talking to the press. We should allow the task force to talk to press.”

According to the official, the centre which resumed testing would go a long way in reducing the trouble of taking samples to Abuja for testing.

The Punch