This unverified claim was made in a statement by the Kogi state Commissioner for Information, Kingsley Fanwo, said sample collection materials had been infected with Covid-19.

The statement reads in part: “Our people should be careful in accessing health care at FMC, Lokoja for now. The institution has become an incubation point for breeding false Covid-19 cases.

“Both the Federal Ministry of Health and the NCDC are not trusted and we have every reason not to ever believe their commercial efforts against Covid-19,” the commissioner said.

Meanwhile, the state government has created mobile courts to try violators of the lockdown order in the Kabba/Bunu Local Government Area.

The lockdown came on the heels of last week’s confirmation of two cases of Covid-19 by the NCDC.

A statement on Wednesday by Fanwo, stated that the decision to lock down the council was to ensure effective containment of the purported outbreak of Covid-19 in the council.

The commissioner urged the people to fully comply with the lockdown the rules as violators would be arrested and tried by the mobile courts deployed in different parts of the council.

“We urge our people to persevere and obey all the rules of the lockdown which are in their best interest. We shall overcome this phase and come out stronger as a people,” he said.