Ondo State state governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, has announced three new positive cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of infections in the state to seven.
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He disclosed this in a series of tweets on Sunday, saying that one of the new cases was one a suspect arraigned in a court in Akure, the state capital, on Friday last week.
The suspect was among the four men arraigned at a Chief Magistrate Court sitting in Akure over the killing of Mrs Funke Olakunrin, the daughter of the National Leader of Afenifere, Pa Reuben Fasoranti.
According to the governor, the state Commissioner of Police had been duly informed about the status of the infected suspect, although he did not disclose his identity.
He added that they have begun contact tracing of police officers and others in the facility where the suspect was detained.
Governor Akeredolu stated that the suspect has been isolated from others in detention and would be moved to the Infectious Disease Hospital for treatment.
He added, the police commissioner gave an assurance that the State Command will ensure adequate security of the IDH premises to prevent the suspect from escaping.
Governor Akeredolu’s tweets revealed that Ondo has six active cases of COVID-19 while the index case has since been discharged, with no death recorded.
The Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba, had announced the arrest of the four suspected killers of Olakunrin in a statement on April 16.
They are Lawal Mazaje from the Felele area of Kogi State, Adamu Adamu from Jada area of Adamawa State, Mohammed Usman from Illela area of Sokoto State, and Auwal Abubakar from Shinkafi area of Zamfara State.
One of the suspects, Abubakar, was arrested on March 4 along the Sagamu-Ore Expressway in Ondo, in a follow-up action on a case of a high-profile armed robbery and kidnap for ransom that occurred in Ogun State.
His arrest led to the arrest of two other members of the gang, Usman, and Mazaje, in Benin, the Edo State capital, as well as Adamu in Akure.
During an Identification Parade at the Federal SARS Headquarters in Lagos on April 8, a survivor of the incident that led to Olakunrin’s death identified three of the suspects and gave a clear description of the roles.