Panic as CSP disappears after testing positive to COVID-19

Juliana Francis

Officials of National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) were alarmed on Friday after a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), identified as Mr Murtala Ibrahim, attached to 21 Mobile Police Force, Nyanya, Abuja, vanished into thin air after testing positive to COVID-19.

This incident occurred just as NCDC officials had been expressing worry over the escalating cases of COVID-19 carriers in Nigeria.

According to eyewitnesses, a mild drama played out when NCDC officials came to take Ibrahim to an isolation Centre to commence his treatment.

It was gathered that Ibrahim, when officials of NCDC and some policemen came to take him to isolation, locked them out and left his apartment through a backdoor.

The team of NCDC officials were said to have gone to apartment at Garki Police Barracks on Saturday at about 2pm.

According to a Police source, Ibrahim had earlier been quarantined and had been on treatment at the National Hospital, Abuja. How he escaped from his treatment Centre, remains a mystery.

The source said: “The NCDC officials were led by Police personnel to the residence of the CSP. When the team got there, the CSP and members of his family were seen peeping at the policemen and NCDC officials through the window. All entreaties, appeal and admonitions for him to open his door to meet the evacuation team, proved abortive. The CSP was later sighted driving furiously out of the barracks in his car, In fact, his present destination is unknown.”

It was further gathered that since his vanishing act, all his phone lines had remained unreachable.

The Police, who want to get him before he spread the virus to his unsuspecting colleagues, have set up surveillance teams to trail and take him into custody. Further, a medical team had been alerted and is on standby for his arrest.

The FCT Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mensah, when contacted about the incident, said that he was not aware. He, however, promised to find out about the matter and get back to our reporter. But as at press time, he was yet to do so.