On 18th April, 2020, the six governors in the South- West agreed to jointly close all the borders in the region as part of measures to prevent the spread of the deadly coronavirus disease .
The decision was made at the virtual meeting held by the governors of the region, namely: Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ondo and Ekiti states, under the auspices of the South – West Governors ’ Forum on Thursday . April 18th.
Investigation conducted GOALPOACHER NEWS around some parts of Ibadan showed that there is more than meets the eye. Who is responsible for the influx of people into Oyo State despite the border closure? How do the migrants get past the security at the entry points?
These were the reactions of some residents who spoke with GOALPOACHER NEWS on condition of anonymity.
“I will implore the concern authority to please take the boarder lockdown seriously.”
“Yesterday morning, a Dangote Truck loaded with people, only God knows where there were coming from was sighted in Iwo road dropping people. I got calls from 2 people reporting the same story, one was my account officer and the other has a shop in Iwo road.”
“Also there was a post in a group that I belong that a lot of people are coming in through Ilorin.
We have to be very careful at this stage, so that we will not have community transmission of Covid-19.”
” Everybody has been applauding Governor Seyi Makinde on his systematic approach to the the fight against COVID-19. Allowing influx of people to the state can lead to a serious problem.”
“The Governor can not go and mount the boarders, that’s why am calling on the committee with the responsibility of monitoring our boarders to step up their game.”
“Also, Micra is still carrying overload, I think we should enforce 1 in front and 2 at the back for now, fortunately, the price of petrol has been reduced. It is better they adhere to that for now than to stay at home for weeks without any income, it’s all about sacrifice we must all make.”
“Okada is still carrying 2 passengers too.
Our markets are still busy as ever.
People should know that it is not business as usual, the fact that we have a Governor that has genuine love for his people should not be taken for granted.”
“The Governor is working tirelessly to make sure that citizens are comfortable, we should compliment his efforts rather than causing more problem.
At times it is better for common man too to feel some heat so that they will know how serious the heat the leadership is facing.”
“Let’s take the boarder lockdown more serious and reduce the number of passengers in Micra to 3, Maruwa to 2, Okada to 1 and 10 seater bus to 7.”
Another resident told GOALPOACHER NEWS that he went to Alakia/Iyana Agbala and saw people standing at the road side, Brewery/Alakia roadside waiting to board car/bus to travel out of Ibadan erounte Osun.
Which means they are certain they will get one to convey them.
‘Another is my relatives in Iseyin, they are about 18 to 20, they went to Lagos yesterday and this two cases happened during the day.”
All these these showed our boarders are still porous and security men are giving room for lapses.
“I don’t really understand the type of curfew here in Iseyin and some parts of Oke-Ogun not to talk of social distancing, at least in Ibadan, between 6:30-7 pm atmosphere be a kind of holiday sort of but the story is not the same here”
GOALPOACHER NEWS learnt that People are now coming in from ijebu through ona Ara boarder, not only passing through Ibadan but to rent house and settle down.
The source said,
The source said, “this is not a second hand information, I heard directly from 1 among thew Who claimed they can’t withstand the harsh situation in ogun state again.
So they all agreed to move to Ibadan temporarily.”
Another source said,
“Just this morning, someone told me she just came back from Ilorin, I was shocked! I told her there’s restriction on interstate travel and what she said was, the bus pilot gave security personnel’s money on each check point and they passed their vehicle. You can imagine that”
On Thursday, Governor Seyi Makinde inspected the interstate boundaries between Oyo and Ogun State to ascertain the level of compliance at the entry points. Makinde however said the compliance wasn’t 100%.