Niger Speaker, Clerk test positive for COVID-19, other members go into isolation

The Speaker of the Niger House of Assembly, Bawa Wuse and the Clerk, Mohammed Kagara, have gone into isolation after testing positive for COVID-19.

Alhaji Mohammed Idris, the state Commissioner of Information and Strategy, confirmed the development to newsmen on Sunday in Minna.

Idris who did not give more details on the issue, simply said that ‘it was true’.

Also, the member representing Bida 11, at the State Assembly, Alhaji Haruna Baba, also confirmed the development.

He explained that two weeks ago, the member representing Gurara, Binta Mamman, tested positive, which made the entire legislators and staff of the assembly to undergo testing for coronavirus.

“Unfortunately, the results of the speaker and that of clerk turned out positive,” he said.

He said that all the lawmakers and principal staff have gone into self-isolation.

Another source at the assembly, who pleaded anonymity, told journalists that many of the test carried out on the lawmakers returned negative, except that of the Speaker and the Clerk.

The source confirmed that the two of them are responding positively to treatment.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the state government had directed workers to stay at home from Monday in order to curtail the spread of the pandemic while all schools in state have been closed since Friday.