Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Chief Femi Adesina, Sunday said that presidential aides testing positive to COVID-19 and on self-isolation, confirmed that they are human and not immune to happenings around them.
Chief Adesina stated this when he appeared on Sunday Politics on Channels Television.
Recall that an online newspaper, Premium Times had at the weekend in an exclusive story, named those affected as the permanent secretary in the State House, Tijani Umar; the President’s Aide-de-camp (ADC), Yusuf Dodo; his chief security officer (CSO), Aliyu Musa, and his senior special assistant media and publicity, Garba Shehu.
The online newspaper said their results were confirmed positive during the week.
The report quoted Shehu as saying: “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.”
Asked to comment on the development Adesina said: “Well, what I like to say is that presidential aides are just human. They can fall sick. If anything happens to human beings it can also happen to presidential aides. The fact that we are presidential aides does not make us to be immune to certain things.
‘If there is a virus that is ravaging society. Well, it can touch anybody. So Mallam Garba Shehu has confirmed that, yes, he tested positive but he said it’s mild. And I believe that by now, because it’s happened since Wednesday, by now, he should almost have beaten it if he had not beaten it already. There is no cause for alarm.”
Asked how he was holding up since he had contact with Shehu, the Presidential Spokesman said: “Well, I also believe God for the best. If it happens, I’ll recover. So that’s it.”
Asked how many Of the President’s aides in the State House have been infected, Adesina said: “No. That will not be within my purview to discuss maybe if you get the Presidential doctor or anybody in the medical side, they will tell you, I wouldn’t know because, it is a private thing. If it happens to anybody it is between that person and possibly the doctor. It’s not going to be general knowledge. So I may not be able to say.”
Asked if the President was isolating seeing that, he had been exposed to those infected, Adesina said: “Well, I think Mr. President is quite fine, he is doing his normal routine, following his normal schedule. But if anybody close to him test positive, that person is required to stay away till he tests again, and he test negative. So, Mr. President, is following his normal schedule and routine.”