Some residents of Ilesa in Osun State have asked the state government to provide palliatives to residents of the four local government areas of the state that were locked down by government to contain the spread of the ravaging Coronavirus.
The state government had last weekend announced a total lockdown in four local government areas of Ijesaland – Ilesa West, East and Atakunmosa West and East – as part of its efforts to curb community transmission of the disease.
Three days into the one-week lockdown order, some residents of Ilesa said it was suicidal for the government to lock them down without caring about their welfare.
A resident of Araromi in Ilesa, Idowu Ajayi, said most residents could not feed well again owing to the inability to transact business and make ends meet.
“What most residents of Ilesa are experiencing now is worse than the virus government is trying to save us from. The hunger and hardship are deadlier than COVID-19 and government needs to do something about it,” Ajayi said.
For Mrs Obembe, the government ought to have made provision for the welfare of residents before locking them down.
“Some people are flouting the directive because they are facing hardship. Some have been trying to see if they can get something to feed their family with. This is suicidal. Government should provide palliative for us,” she said.
Meanwhile, the enforcement team of the Osun COVID-19 Task Force on Thursday arrested some of the violators of the lockdown.
The violators and other non-adherents to the NCDC’s protocols were apprehended for flouting government’s directives to forestall community transmission of the dreaded virus.
The Special Adviser to the Governor on Security, Abiodun Ige, who led the enforcement team, said the decision to arrest some of the violators was to ensure total compliance to government’s order.
She noted that those that were temporarily arrested would serve as a deterrent to others who might be nursing such an act of insolence toward the lockdown.
While counseling the lockdown defaulters at Ereja square, Ige said the government embarked on the lockdown as the best option to forestall the further spread of the virus in the state and the areas in particular.
Some of the violators who were largely residents of Ilesa West and Ilesa East, were apprehended by the law enforcement agents stationed at different locations in the four Councils.
The violators were counselled on the necessary precautionary measures to prevent the spread of the virus and were later released.
