Ekiti Assembly suspends plenary, other activities indefinitely

Ondo lawmakers advocate ban on public gatherings

Ekiti State House of Assembly yesterday announced indefinite suspension of legislative activities as part of measure to contain the spread of the dread coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Moving the motion under matters of urgent public importance, the chairman of House Committee on Health, Mrs. Teju Okunyiga, informed the house of one confirmed case of COVID-19 in Ekiti.

Also, the state’s taskforce on coronavirus yesterday announced the first death on Nigerian soil possibly from the deadly virus.Okunyiga called on the lawmakers to take enough precautionary measures to contain further spread of the disease, including shutting Assembly complex.

Other members who spoke on the matter, including Mrs. Yemisi Ayokunle, Gboyega Aribisogan and Abiodun Fawekun, suggested that aside the Assembly complex, public places like schools should be shut for now.

Ruling on the motion, the Speaker, Mr Funminiyi Afuye, said: “Activities at the Ekiti House of Assembly is hereby suspended as suggested by members, until further notice when the tension about the dread coronavirus is doused.”

The Assembly thereafter adjourned sitting ‘sine die’.

In related development, the Academic Staff Union of Secondary Schools (ASUSS) has called on the government to close down schools in the state with immediate effect.

In a statement made available in Ado Ekiti, ASUSS chairman, Sola Adigun, noted that such would prevent the close group interactions which could hasten the spread of the virus among very active adolescents in secondary schools.

Less than 24 hours after a suspected case of coronavirus was reported in Ondo State, the House of Assembly has urged Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu to shut schools and ban public gatherings.

The Commissioner for Health, Dr. Wahab Adegbenro, was summoned to appear at the plenary yesterday and quizzed on the measures put in place to curtail the pandemic.

While querying the state government for waiting too long to act, the chairman of the House Committee on Health, Abiodun Adeyeye, lamented that the state was not buoyant enough to tackle the virus.