The Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 has directed the electoral umpire, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to enforce no-face-mask-no-voting rule in the Saturday governorship election in Ondo State.
The PTF National Coordinator, Dr Sani Aliyu said this during a media briefing in Abuja on Thursday.
Aliyu expressed the determination of the taskforce to ensure that elections are conducted under safe environment. He said that Ondo state boasts of over 1.5 million prospective voters in 3,000 polling units which makes the election a huge exercise which would also come with its risk.
Speaking on the resumption of international flights, Chairman of the PTF and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha said that there has been an increase in the number of passengers who fly into the country.
He said, “The PTF and relevant agencies are working with the European Union on the issue of flights into Nigeria. As soon as negotiations are completed, Nigerians will be informed accordingly. For flights currently allowed into Nigeria, we are seeing a combined number of 4,500 arriving passengers per day into Lagos and Abuja.”
Mustapha also announced the assassination of Uche Njoku, a laboratory expert who works with the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.
“On a very sad note, we have received report of the untimely death of Uche Njoku, a laboratory expert with the NCDC, who was shot while on official trip by gunmen.
“The PTF commiserate with his family and all frontline workers on this painful loss. We also wish the other workers in the vehicle that were injured a quick recovery. This incident underscores the danger that frontline workers face in the course of fighting this virus on our behalf,” he said.