Yusuf Dodo, President Muhammadu Buhari’s Aide-de-camp (ADC), has contracted the coronavirus, as have four other Aso Rock aides, officials say, raising fears of another outbreak sweeping through the ranks of the nation’s top officials.
Others aides said to have contracted the virus include Buhari’s senior special assistant on media and publicity, Garba Shehu; his chief security officer (CSO), Aliyu Musa; permanent secretary in the State House, Tijani Umar and one other aide.
Minister for Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed also tested positive for the virus, people close to the administration told NewsDay Nigeria on Saturday.
The diagnoses came as Nigeria recorded more than 1,356 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday. The country also recorded two more deaths bringing the country’s death toll to 2,993.
Shehu, who abided by President Buhari’s efforts to play down the coronavirus, is only the latest in a string of people in the president’s circle to contract the virus in the past two weeks.
Shehu in a statement on Saturday confirmed that he was “afflicted by the mild variant of the COVID-19,” but said he has “no confirmation” of other aides who have contracted the virus.
He, however, said he was already fit but in isolation.
His message reads in part; “I have no confirmation of the cases you mentioned, but yes I have been afflicted by the mild variant of the COVID-19. I felt okay from the beginning, maybe because one had received all three jabs, and right now, I feel 100 per cent. I just finished my hour-long running exercise.
“But the strange thing about this ailment is that it is the scientists, not you, that will say you are okay. Right now, I’m taking my prescriptions and isolating, and would go back for a test to ascertain if the virus is still here or it has left me. Thanks for your goodwill.”
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