Yusuf Bello| Muhammadu Sanusi II, the former emir of Kano, and his wives and Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote on Sunday tested negative for the novel coronavirus.
Dangote was believed to have been exposed to Abba Kyari, President Buhari’s chief of staff who tested positive to the virus earlier in the week while Sanusi had contact with Gov Nasir El-rufai of Kaduna state who tested positive on Saturday.
But in a tweet on Sunday, Dangote announced that he took a test as a global citizen and business leader and that he is leading a group of private sector leaders in supporting government efforts to tackle the disease.
He said, “The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly disrupted modern society, affecting our collective health and well-being. As a global citizen and business leader, I took the COVID-19 test and the result came back NEGATIVE.”
“CACOVID (Coalition Against COVID-19) is an initiative that I am leading with other private sector leaders&our common goal is to support ongoing Government initiatives with our resources in the fight against Covid-19. We are in this together & I am optimistic we will overcome.”
On his part, a statement by the former Emir of Kano’s son, Adam Sanusi read, “ Our family has been inundated with calls asking about the health and safety of my father [Sanusi] especially given the number of visitors he received on arrival in Lagos, and a number of contacts he had who have either tested positive for COVID 19 or were in contact with persons who tested positive”.
“As for my father, on March 25, he and all our mothers submitted samples for the COVID 19 test. These samples were taken at home under the supervision of Dr. Alero Roberts, the second Vice Chairman of the Association of Public Health Professionals.”
“On March 27th Dr. Roberts conveyed the results and all of them were NEGATIVE. We hope this information will allay the concerns of all those who are asking.”
He added that Sanusi would, however, “still like to urge Nigerians to stop reacting to adverse test results as if they were a death sentence. COVID 19 is no respecter of persons or status. The Prince of Wales has it. The British Prime Minister has it. Several high profile Nigerians have it”.
“This disease is normally a very mild one, about 96-97 percent of those infected are expected cured. Over 80 percent do not need hospitals and recover at home by adhering to recommended protocols. However please note that COVID is real.
“Social distancing and compliance with the guidelines of public health authorities is the only way to ensure it does not continue spreading endlessly in our country.
“We should also not assume that this virus left unchecked can not mutate into something even more dangerous and deadly. Most people should shake it off in less than two weeks and sensationalizing results or stigmatizing the disease does not speak well of us as a people.”
Sanusi also called on Muslim scholars to suspend congregational prayers as mandated by most governments, in favour of social distancing and prayed for quik recovery for el-rufai and other covid-19 patients.
“We must comply even with the suspension of religious gatherings including congregational prayers. Muslim scholars who continue to defy this guideline may wish to consider the implications of Nigeria being the country that has not put an end to the pandemic.
“At the minimum, Nigerian Muslims will be barred from Hajj and Umrah for fear of restarting a global pandemic. We must learn from the ill-advised opposition to polio vaccination.”
“Our hearts go to him and his family in these times. And we are proud that he has continued to lead the effort to protect his state from spread of the virus even when in isolation,” Sanusi said.
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