The Akwa Ibom government has revealed that timely receipt of information led to the interception of 68 travelers who wanted to “invade the state” through its borders.
He revealed that there is a syndicate that specializes in bringing in people from neighboring states and that the timely receipt of the information led to the interception.
Udom Emmanuel, the governor, disclosed this when he hosted the state caucus of the national assembly in Uyo, the state capital.
The governor said the travelers “mainly from distant states” were liaising with their collaborators within the state to come into Akwa Ibom.
He alleged that the suspects wanted to take advantage of the “state’s robust healthcare system” designed to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.
“They tried to bring in about 68 of them. So you can imagine if they were allowed to come in. We got the information on time, so I used the police to intercept them; apart from that, I think so far, the curve has declined drastically. The intelligence-gathering approach is deployed by the Akwa Ibom government to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic. The approach has paid off for the state as the technique has enabled us to foil the attempt of 68 suspected COVID-19 patients invading the state” he said.
Speaking further, Udom said he has evidence to buttress the fact that the state boasts of a better health care system in treating COVID 19.
“I have text messages where people were trying to communicate with their colleagues here and those colleagues encouraged them to move into the state with the assurance that people are better treated here.
Yesterday, we got a call from one village in Etinan local government area that somebody has sneaked into the state. People even enter through water and when they come in, they declare themselves to be having symptoms so we can pick them up for treatment because they hear testimonies and even calling people to confirm” he added.
