Another Bayero University Professor Dies In Kano,As Ganduje's Commissioner Tests Positive For Covid-19

A senior lecturer at the Physical and Health Education Department, Faculty of Education of the Bayero University, Kano (BUK), Prof. Monsuru Lasun Emiola, is dead.

The Oyo State-born varsity teacher died on Wednesday after a brief illness. He was described devoted Muslim. He is  survived by a wife and children.

BUK also lost a lecturer at the Faculty of Communication, Prof Balarabe Maikaba, who died after a brief illness on April 26.

Also on Thursday, a former Commissioner for Works in the state, Muazu Magaji, allegedly tested positive for COVID-19.

Magaji was sacked by the governor for making some remarks about the death of President Muhammadu Buhari’s Chief of Staff, Mallam Abba Kyari.

Magaji, took to his Facebook page to say that “Nigeria is free”, a remark that infuriated the governor, who announced his immediate sack.

In a statement announcing Muazu’s sack, Kano State Information Commissioner Malam Muhammad Garba, said he was removed, following his “unguarded utterances against the person of the late Chief of Staff to the President, Malam Abba Kyari.”

Garba said: “As a public servant, the commissioner ought to have respect the profanity of the office by refraining from any act capable of rendering the office to disrepute. The action of a public servant, personal or otherwise reflects back on the government and therefore, the Ganduje administration would not tolerate people in official capacities engaging in a personal vendetta or otherwise.”

The sacked commissioner, however, defended himself that he was misunderstood.

Muazu said: “l did not celebrate Kyari’s death. People only misunderstood me. Assalamualaiku, dear people of Kano and Nigeria at large, l want to sincerely clear up what a lot of people may have misunderstood and set the record straight. As a Muslim and a patriotic Nigerian, I was only misunderstood by people to think that l celebrated Kyari’s death. The truth is l did not.”

Desperate Kano residents yesterday thronged the Kofar Wambai and Kantin Kwari markets without regard to the measures put in place to curb the spread of COVID-19 in Kano State. They flouted social and physical distancing rules.

Governor Abdullahi Ganduje on May 2 relaxed the lockdown with the approval of Mondays and Thursdays for shopping between 10am and 4pm.

The state government approved two perishable produce markets and some designated stores to operate during the relaxation period.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN),  customers trooped to the Kofar Wambai and Kantin Kwari textile markets to make rush-hour purchases without observing social distancing and other safety protocols.