Court sentences four for attempting to escape with COVID-19 patient

Four persons were on Thursday convicted for violating the Kwara state government’s restriction of movement order and the rules guiding patients at isolation centre.

The four persons, AbdulGaniyu Sadiq, Abdullah Isiaka, Sodiq Hakeem and Aremu Wasiu, were sentenced by an Ilorin Magistrate’s Court to 14 days self-isolation for attempting to escape with one Kazeem Oladayo, a COVID-19 patient, at Sobi Isolation Centre in Ilorin.

The Chief Magistrate, Mr Bio Solihu, also ordered the convicts to pay N20,000 fine each in addition to the isolation sentence.

Solihu also ordered the NSCDC officers who arrested the violators to liaise with the officers of the correctional centre and the state’s Covid-19 Technical Committee to ensure that the convicts were isolated.

The Prosecutor, Insp Nasir Yusuf, urged the court to try the offenders summarily since they had pleaded guilty.

Yusuf said that the patient was an inter-state driver who came from Lagos to Ilorin.