[Breaking news] A woman held in isolation as the index COVID -19 case in Benue State

A woman who is being held in isolation as the index COVID-19 case in Benue State is demanding her immediate release from quarantine as well as public apology from government.

The woman, Mrs Susan Idoko-Okpe, a Nigerian – British citizen, through her lawyer, Ebun Olu Adegboruwa, SAN accused the authorities of detaining her against her will “and for no verifiable reason.”

In a letter dated 23 April, 2020 and addressed to the Minister of Health, the Senior Advocate alleged that his client was being mistaken for another person because she was not in the country when the tests upon which her isolation was based were conducted by the health authorities.

“The documents constituting the purported test results leading to the erroneous conclusion that our client has tested positive for COVID-19 are as follows:

“Letter dated 2nd April 2020 from the Federal Ministry of Health, signed by A.M. Abdullahi, Permanent Secretary and addressed to the Chief Medical Director of Benue State University Teaching Hospital. The subject of the said letter is said to be one “…Ms. Susan Okpe, a 62-year-old Nigerian-British citizen…”. As you would kindly confirm from our client’s bio-data on her international passport and even her Reference Card at the Grace Cottage Hospital, her name is Susan Idoko-Okpe and she is 56 years old.

“Letter dated 2nd April 2020, from the Benue State University Teaching Hospital, signed by Dr. Patrick Echekwuebe, Head of Infectious Diseases Unit and addressed to the Infectious Diseases Unit of University of Abuja Teaching Hospital. The subject matter of the said letter is “Okpe Susan/Female/62yrs”, whereas as stated earlier, our client is Susan Idoko-Okpe and she is 56 years old.