Tony John, Port Harcourt

The owner of the demolished Prodest Hotels in Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State, Mr Needam Gogorobari, has called on the Director-General of Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) for the immediate transfer of the hotel manager, Mr Bariledum Azoroh, from the Port Harcourt isolation centre, where he was declared positive for the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Mr Gogorobari has also petitioned the Chief Judge of Rivers State and Chairman of Rivers State Judicial Service Commission over the failure of the state Magistrate’s Court Registry to accept and process applications for the manager who was tried and convicted for violation of Governor Nyesom Wike’s Executive Order.

The hotel owner, in a letter made available to Sunday Sun, appealed to the Director-General of the NCDC to, as a matter of urgency, relocate his manager to either the isolation/treatment centre at University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH), Abuja or Lagos to quickly conduct an independent diagnostic test on him.

Mr Gogorobari expressed doubt about the quick trial and conviction of Mr Azoroh in court, as well as the manager’s quarantine at the Port Harcourt isolation and treatment centre where he was confirmed COVID-19 positive.

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The hotel owner alleged a plot to inject his manager with unknown substances even before the COVID-19 result was announced in the media.

He further called on the agency to conduct contact tracing of the people that participated in the arrest, isolation and trial of Mr Azoroh to ascertain their COVID-19 status in line with the mandate of NCDC.

‘This is because, with the surrounding circumstance, they are all persons suspected to have direct contact with Azoroh. The tracing will reveal a lot and uncover misrepresentations,’ he stated.

It would be recalled that Mr Azoroh, the manager of Prodest Hotels that was demolished recently by the state government, was arrested on May 10th for allegedly contravening the Executive Order VII of Rivers governor.

He was taken to the state’s COVID-19 isolation centre at Yakubu Gowon Stadium, Elekahia Port Harcourt, for detention and trial.