14th April, 2020
Okafor Ofiebor
Bayelsa State from midnight Monday reverted to its earlier order on lockdown of the state as part of measures to prevent the spread of the dreaded coronavirus.
The government had last Thursday relaxed its lockdown directive on worship centres to enable Christians participate in the Easter celebrations.
Large congregation churches were allowed 50 worshippers at a time while smaller churches were permitted to have 20 worshippers for their Easter programmes.
Governor Douye Diri through a press release by his Acting Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Daniel Alabrah, said the Easter celebrations were over but the battle against coronavirus was still on.
Governor Diri, while thanking the churches for complying with the directive during Easter, said reverting to the total lockdown of the state underscored the importance his administration placed on safety and wellbeing of its residents.
He said all the measures and pronouncements toward preventing the spread of coronavirus into the state were still in force and urged Bayelsans to continue to comply with them.
His words: “The directive on total lockdown of the state, which was earlier relaxed due to the Easter celebration, has now been reinstated. I commend the churches for their compliance level as the reports I got were encouraging.
“Let us continue with the same zeal and commitment in order to prevent the virus from entering our state. So far, we have done well.
“I equally commend the dedication of the COVID-19 task force, the health personnel as well as the security agencies that have been working tirelessly to keep our state safe.”