COVID-19: HURIWA demand Abba Kyari funeral attendees quarantined
Meanwhile, Lai Mohammed had said, Corpses of COVID-19 can't be claimed for burial
A prominent civil Rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, has condemned the mammoth crowd that attended the funeral of Late Abba Kyari.
HURIWA also lamented that mourners at the funeral failed to observe the social distancing rule and therefore, called on the NCDC to trace all those who attended the ceremony and place them on quarantine for 14 days.
Mallam Abba Kyari. Kyari, the former chief of staff to the Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari had died on Friday, April 17 and was buried in Abuja on Saturday, April 18, 2020.
At his funeral, a large crowd converged to pay him his last respect, disrespecting the social distancing rules of the NCDC
No social distancing as Abaa Kyari joined his ancestors, finally laid to rest today April 18, 2020. pic.twitter.com/xCGKOq6Tqd
— Nkiruka Nistoran (@NkirukaNistoran) April 18, 2020
In a statement signed by its national coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko lamented that hundreds of mourners who turned up at the funeral failed to observe the social distancing rule.
Part of the statement read: "The government must be seen following to the letter all the well thought out rules and regulations mapped out for our good public good at this time pending the relaxation of the lockdown order by the federal government of Nigeria.
"Laws are to be obeyed by all and sundry. In all parts of the world, it has never been known that elaborate and colourful funeral events are celebrated for persons who unfortunately passed on after catching up with the dreaded health condition of COVID-19.
"This public show of total disregard for the laws that were rolled out and signed publicly by President Muhammadu Buhari as manifested by the rich and powerful who turned up for the burial ceremony must never be allowed to go the way of other illegalities in our clime." The group stated.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, had said, bodies of persons who die while undergoing treatment for the rampaging global COVID-19 pandemic will not be released for burial.
He said the Ministry of Health would 'handle' the bodies 'because they are contagious.'
The minister stated this in Abuja at a forum organized by the News Agency of Nigeria on Friday.
Mohammed said: "Coronavirus is very dangerous and contagious; there is no medicine for it yet; and it is not just capable of killing, overwhelming healthcare system, it will destroy the economy.
"In some countries, they are putting dead bodies in big refrigerators, because the morgues have filled up.
"Nigerians should not forget that these are not the types of corpses that can be claimed for burial because it must be handled by the ministry of health."
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