40 people travelling from Kano to Lagos intercepted in Niger

The Niger State Government has said it intercepted at least 40 people who were Lagos bound from Kano despite the ban on interstate travels in place in the country.

The Chief Press Secretary to Governor Abubakar Bello, Mary Noel-Berje, disclosed this late Wednesday night, adding that 19 other persons travelling from Lagos to Kano were stopped by the Niger State COVID-19 Task Force.

“Despite the interstate lockdown, people are still moving under any small opportunity they got. I can’t imagine people travelling under the cover of trampoline and sack of rice.

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“For us, we are not going to leave any stone unturned, they are going back to where they came from,” the statement quoted the state Health Commissioner, Dr Muhammad Makusidi, as saying.

The government said the intercepted persons have since been convicted by the Mobile Court and charged to between three months and one-year imprisonment with an option of a fine.

It would be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari had on Monday, April 27, ordered a ban on non-essential inter-state passenger travel until further notice as part of measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease which is said to be at the community transmission stage in the country.

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