The Ebonyi State Governor, David Umahi, on Monday, March 23rd, 2020 banned all forms of public gatherings in the state for thirty one (31) days.

Umahi announced the ban on public gatherings during a town hall meeting with residents, which held at the International Conference Centre in Abakaliki.

According to the governor, public gatherings included funerals, weddings, seminars, conferences, amongst others.

Represented by the Deputy Governor of Ebonyi State, Kelechi Igwe, Umahi noted that the ban would last for a period of one month in the first instance.

He said the ban was part of measures the state government was putting in place to protect people from contracting the deadly coronavirus, which had been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

He said,

It is painful to take the decision but government had to reason that it is better to let the dead bury the dead for now. But if you feel that you cannot wait, then you can take the corpse and bury just you and your family without any ceremony and invitation to anybody.

The governor also instructed all the civil servants in the state to work from home, starting from Wednesday, March 25th, 2020.

However, he added that those on essential services were exempted from the order to work from home.

Justin Nwosu

Justin Nwosu is the founder and publisher of Flavision. His core interest is in writing unbiased news about Nigeria in particular and Africa in general. He’s a strong adherent of investigative journalism, with a bent on exposing corruption, abuse of power and societal ills.