Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State has come under heavy criticism for meeting with some members of his cabinet on “how to flatten COVID-19 curve” without the Commissioner for Health, Mrs Tomi Coker, in attendance.
DAILY POST reports that Abiodun, around 11:32pm on Friday, released pictures of himself, the Deputy Governor, Noimot Salako-Oyedele; the Secretary to the State Governor (SSG), Tokunbo Talabi, and the governor’s Chief of Staff, Shuaib Salisu.
According to him, the four of them have evaluated the level of preparedness of Ogun, as far as COVID-19 is concerned, why assuring the people of the State that his administration is planning relief packages and economic stimulus for them, as they stay at home as a result of Coronavirus pandemic.
He informed that they had further deliberated on the next steps to take to reduce the rate of the Coronavirus pandemic in Ogun State.
In his reaction, the immediate past Commissioner for Health in Ogun State, Hon. Babatunde Ipaye berated Abiodun for holding such an important meeting without experts in attendance.
Seeing the pictures, Ipaye said: “See the people discussing how to flatten Covid-19 curve. Where are the health experts here?”
The medical practitioner wondered why the Commissioner for Health, the Special Adviser on Health, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health were all absent at the meeting held, apparently at a private residence of Gov Abiodun.
According to Ipaye, such a meeting should not have been held without the presence of the representatives of the World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Children’s Funds (UNICEF) and the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
Doing a comparison between Abiodun and his Lagos State counterpart, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Ipaye said:
“Incident Commanders of Epidemics or Pandemics don’t address same from the comfort of their homes.
The word ‘Commander’ is deliberately used in Public Health epidemics.
“At least, we see Sanwo-Olu, Hon. Minister (for Health) or even Donald Trump every day.”
