By Dele Moses, Ilorin
Kwara State Government has suspended the Permanent Secretary of the state Ministry of Health, Dr Ayinla Abubakar, from office indefinitely.
Abubakar, until the suspension was a member of the state technical committee on COVID-19 pandemic.
His suspension, according to a statement signed by the state Deputy Goovernor and chairman of the technical committee, Kayode Alabi, was as a result of the mishandling of the evacuation of a man who reportedly had locked himself in his vehicle for days and had become distressed following some personal life challenges.
A footage had earlier surfaced of the mishandling of the rescue operation for the man following which the government sacked, from activities of the technical committee, a driver involved in the rescue operation before descending on the Permanent Secretary.
Alabi, in the statement faulted the role played by the Permanent Secretary in the alleged mishandling of the rescue operation and explained that the decision to suspend him was taken after the committee found his defence not acceptable.
The statement reads: “The committee is thoroughly embarrassed at the whole development. While the driver has been sacked from all activities of the committee for unilaterally allowing evacuation of the man by members of the public without waiting for the Rapid Response Team (RRT) to arrive the scene as instructed, the Permanent Secretary who directed him to proceed on the operation with a COVID-19 ambulance without due diligence and respect for all safety protocols is hereby asked to proceed on an indefinite suspension forthwith,” according to a statement signed by Kayode Alabi, Deputy Governor and Chairman of the COVID-19 Committee.
“As the highest official involved in the RRT squad who gave the directive for the driver to proceed, the committee does not accept his explanation regarding the ugly development.
“He has been asked to hand over to the most senior officer on the team pending his return from suspension. This development also has necessitated a new round of refresher course (which is now ongoing) for all our ambulance drivers and members of the RRT, as the scenario witnessed in the footage cannot be allowed to happen ever again.
“Finally, we are sorry once again for the development. It should not have happened. We do not take the support of the Kwara people for granted, and we reassure them that Kwara retains its proud ratings as one of the states with the best facilities, responsiveness, and general preparedness to manage this pandemic. This has been attested to by the NCDC team as well as the Stears Business rating of the level of states’ responsiveness and preparation for the pandemic.”
