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COVID-19 LOCKDOWN: FCT police threatens to seal all motor parks

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COVID-19 LOCKDOWN: FCT police threatens to seal all motor parks

For flouting the presidential lockdown order, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Police Command, on Tuesday threatened to seal all motor parks in the nation’s capital.

The command made the threat through its Commissioner, Bala Ciroma, over the failure of the operators of the parks to obey the order.

Ciroma stated this in Abuja while addressing operators of motor parks at the command, adding that motorists and travellers must adhere to the physical distancing directive as one of the measures to curb the transmission of COVID-19 across the territory.

According to him, most of the vehicles carry passengers in the night at the parks and leave before full activities of the day start. This, he described as a worrisome situation that was contributing to the spread of the disease.

“Motor Park owners and operators know that there is a lockdown in Abuja, but it has been observed that only in the day time that the order was being observed.

“The park owners have created emergency parks and received people from long journeys between 2a.m. and 3a.m.

Read also: Lagos discharges 9 more COVID-19 patients

“Policemen and officers have been deployed to your parks yet you people have formed new parks in other locations, if this is not checked people from other locations will bring the disease into FCT, and if we have the disease here we will take it to other locations.

”But our concern is to ensure that the situation is well prevented in the Federal Capital Territory,” he said.

Continuing, Ciroma noted that COVID-19 cases that are being recorded in some places were as a result of those that come into FCT or go out, and are suspected to have the virus which they spread to the innocent residents.

He also regretted that most of the disobedience to the lockdown order by motorists were mostly from Utako and Jabi motor parks.

The police commissioner also revealed that the command had impounded 14 vehicles since the lockdown order came into force, explaining that they would not be released until after the lockdown.

The Manager, Luxury Bus Park, Utako, Mr. Buruche Julius, who responded on behalf of the motor park operators, appealed to the commissioner of Police to provide an exemption pass for the leaders to assist the police in monitoring activities of defaulters.

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